Temari's Little Problem
by SpunkyPaperAngel
Summary: Temari is pregnant and scared of telling her brothers, who are confused over her strange behavior. Slightly humorous, cute, possibly occ moments, and some drama. From one Sand Siblings lover to others. Warning: There can be some major cussing.
1. Chapter 1

**Temari's Little Problem**

** Chapter 1**

**A/N **Hi! First thing I ever publish!I guess chapter one is more of a detailed summary and chapter 2 is the

real beginning,but either way Temari will write this letter later review/comment/flame? :)

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.

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><p>Dear, Shikamaru,<p>

I MIGHT be pregnant and it's not even funny. I tried telling Kankuro, since I've always been close to him, but as soon as I started hinting at it he got furious, so I chickened out and changed conversation. Oh, and it's a long story but he thinks I'm a spy and is watching my every move.

Anyways, then I tried telling Gaara. I figured telling him was a win-kind-of-win situation. On one hand, my baby brother has a lot of emotional problems even now that he's kazekage so he would surely understand the anguish and distress I'm going through and do something to help me out. On the other hand, my baby brother has a lot of emotional problems so he would snap and kill me, thus ending my life and pregnant problem. Yea… I thought telling Gaara would be a good idea, but things got so complicated and instead what happened is that the conversation turned to our relationship and how you and I can't be together anymore.

My kazekage demands we break up. Actually, this is supposed to be my break up letter. Gaara-sama doesn't want to give me up to Konohagakure if our relationship was to become more serious and we decided to get married. On the same token, your hokage values you too much to give you up to Sunagakure. Our leaders deem our relationship inconvenient, so we can't be together anymore.

However, I MIGHT BE PREGNANT! Shikamaru Nara, I MIGHT have your child in around seven months and I expect you to be a man and do something about it. I won't be allowed to communicate with you anymore, so just know that I'll try to keep our little problem a secret. I have been pregnant for two months, but today I happened to suffer a series of accidents so I'm not even sure if I lost the baby, and I can't go to the doctor because Gaara will surely end up finding out. I know this letter is very confusing but there's a logical explanation for it all. Please use that big brain of yours to make a plan and save me and our relationship from the wrath of my brothers, and be hasty about it too. Let's assume our kid is alive and that if Gaara and Kankuro find out, they'll kill us both. I don't know what to say. I don't know what to do. I guess I just wanted to tell you?

I have never felt so helpless in my life. I really really like you and I'm counting on you. I hope that you can come up with an escape route. And if not, then just know that I'll do everything in my power to protect you.

Save me soon!

Temari of the Wind.

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><p><strong>AN** I am in the process of writing other story about the Sand Siblings parents and I named the Fourth Kazekage Kaze no Hiro/Hiro of the Wind.

That's why here it is officially Temari of the Wind, Kankuro of the Wind, and Gaara of the Wind, or Kaze no Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara

(but Gaara get's his of the Desert nickname,which he goes by). I like to try keeping all my stories somewhat connected if possible.


	2. Chapter 2

**Temari's Little Problem**

**Chapter 2**

**A/N **Thank you for stopping by to read this :)

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.

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><p>Temari knew something was wrong when she missed her period twice in a row, but she tried to convince herself that everything was okay until she could get a pregnancy test done. She had heard that if you really believed you were pregnant, your body would start acting pregnant, and she couldn't be pregnant! She had only done the dirty deed like… okay… so she <em>had<em> been having all the sex she could get every time she visited the Leaf village, but it was protected sex…! Most of the time…. Yes, she was feeling nausea and had puked once, but it _couldn't_ be pregnancy symptoms. Sure, her period was three weeks late, but it _was_ okay, there was _no way_ she could be pregnant….

_Oh my God, I'm pregnant_. When on one of her missions in a small village south of Suna, Temari decided it was her chance to purchase the damn pregnancy test. It revealed her fear: it was positive.

_Shit. What now?_ she wondered on her way back home. If she recalled correctly, the last day she spent in Konoha had been on that one day, and it was now this day. Therefore, she calculated she was almost two months pregnant. It made sense. Her breasts were tender and would probably start getting fuller in the following months, along with the rest of her. Before she knew it, her belly would be showing. _Great_… she thought bitterly, trying to come up with a plan on what to do about it and, more dangerously, how to tell her brothers.

"Hey, Kanky," she greeted the tall boy in her most pleasant voice the lovely morning she got back to her villae..

He eyed her suspiciously. "What do you want, bitch?"

"Oh! Nothing!" she giggled uncharacteristically. "I just had some good news to tell you!"

"What?" he asked warily.

Temari could hear her heart pounding in her ears. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm… I'm… that I'm… I'm p-p-pr—"

"Pregnant?" his eyes widened in horror. "You better not say you're pregnant or else!"

Her heart stopped on its tracks. "Or else w-what?" she asked as nonchalantly as she could.

"Or else I will slice your stomach open and pull that thing out of you!" he death-glared her the way Gaara did to his enemies.

Temari burst out laughing rather fakely. "God forbid me being pregnant!" she wiped tears from her eyes. "It would be the end of the world! I mean, I don't even know who would be the kid's father or anything!"

"_Shikamaru_," Kankuro hissed.

"What? Him? No way!" Temari fake laughed and cried some more. "He's cool and all but we are not like that!"

Kankuro shook his head, shivering. "I don't want to know. So anyways what were you going to tell me then?"

"That I'm a better ninja than you because for my next mission Gaara said I'm going to be _protecting_ someone very important!" she lied.

Kankuro stared at her blankly. "So? Protecting people missions are the easiest missions ever. A genin fresh from the academy could do it."

"Whatever!" Temari retorted, sounding as if she had been offended. "If you have a problem with the way Gaara appoints missions then take it up to him and leave me alone! I am going to go give him my mission report!" The blonde ran out of the house and jogged to the kazekage's tower, practicing in her mind how she would inform her younger, less-aggressive-but-more-deathly brother the kazekage that she was pregnant.

Back in the house, Kankuro was extremely confused. How come Gaara had already given Temari a new mission if she hadn't even gone to his office to report her latest mission yet? And why had she seemed so weird and nervous? Realization hit the puppeteer like a bucket full of cold water: the Temari he had just talked to was an impostor who was trying to either kill Gaara or gather intelligence from the Sand village! Kankuro grabbed the scrolls from which he summoned his puppets and rushed to his little brother's office.

Gaara sat on his chair, analyzing a document he had just received from Kirigakure, when there was a soft knocking on his door. "Come in," he said loud enough for the person to hear.

The door cracked open and Temari peered in slowly. "Hey, I'm back. I'm ready for my report and… and also… I was wondering if you had time…. I really need to talk to you."

Gaara nodded, motioning for her to take a seat.

"The mission went great," she started her report and her brother took a note or two as she spoke.

"Thank you," he put his pen down when she was done. "There's something else you wanted to say?"

Temari nodded. "It's personal. A family matter, really."

"Go on," his pale, dark-rimmed eyes bore into hers, unnerving her. "I'll listen."

"Well. Gaara, I just want to tell you that I'm—"

"OUT OF MY WAY!" There was a loud crashing noise outside the door.

Gaara held up a finger for Temari to hold on as Kankuro burst in through the door with a maniac glint in his eyes.

"Gaara! You're alive!" the puppeteer sighed in relief. "The girl that you see there isn't Temari! She's an impostor!"

"What the heck are you idiot talking about?" Temari started angrily, but Kankuro tackled her with all his strength to the ground. Gaara's brow furrowed in confusion, and then the most unexpected thing in such an unexpected scenario happened. Temari screamed.

"Aaaaaagggggghhhhhhhhhh!" she wailed in pain, clutching her chest. "_You bastard son of a bitch crushed my boobs!_"

Kankuro got up from atop the blonde girl's body, his cheeks blushed a little but his stance still fierce and ready. "See what I tell you Gaara? Temari never screams in pain, not even when she's stabbed with kunais or hit by shurinkens, and that's not all. She acted really weird and was saying things that didn't even make sense when she first saw me."

"So you think she's a spy?" Gaara asked, glaring at Temari.

"I'm sure she is!" Kankuro reaffirmed.

Gaara walked up to his sand gourd and took off the cork. Sand flowed out of it and surrounded Temari, who was still cursing and in pain. "What the—? _Get your fucking sand away from me!"_ she demanded angrily, but Gaara sand coffined her and made her stand up straight for interrogation.

"Who sent you?" he asked in his deadly tone.

"No one sent me! I'm Temari!" Temari yelled, trying to wiggle out of the tight hold the sand had on her.

"Where's the real Temari?" Kankuro questioned.

"I'm the real Temari! _Put me down_!" she screamed furiously.

"She can't be a clone, and she's not an enemy that took Temari's appearance," Gaara spoke to his brother. "When you tackled her, the jutsu would've disappeared or the clone would have poofed away. Meaning this is the actual Temari… being controlled."

"I'm not being controlled and I am not an enemy!" Temari snapped. "Gaara, stop listening to Kankuro! He's an idiot! And besides wouldn't _you_ have screamed if someone punched you in the nuts with all they had?"

Gaara winced, loosening his grip on the sand. Maybe Kankuro was wrong and it _was_ Temari. There was only one way to find out.

"What is mother's name?"

"Karura!"

"What's my favorite food?"

"Ground liver and salted tongue! Yuck!"

"Who was my best friend when I was a child?"

"You had no friends, unless you're referring to Uncle Yashamaru or to that dumb teddy bear you were always carrying around!"

"_Brownie wasn't dumb_," Gaara said icily, calling back his sand.

Temari fell on her knees and breathed shakily. If she hadn't lost the baby after that stunt, then surely she would in the following seven months. She had to tell her brothers _now_.

"Gaara, I'm telling you: she's a spy."

"She was acting perfectly normal around me. The only odd thing was her scream, but it makes since. I screamed the first time I saw my blood, which means I would probably scream even louder if I got kicked down there."

"But, Gaara…!"

"It's your word against hers and you don't have concrete evidence that she isn't the real Temari."

"Getting boobs crushed can't possibly hurt as much as getting hit in the nuts! Think about it! Isn't that proof enough?"

"We males don't have breasts. I can't compare the feelings, so therefore I can't use that as evidence."

"Fines! Whatever you say! But, Temari," Kankuro turned to glare at her, "I'll be watching your every move, and when I find 'concrete evidence' to show that you are an impostor, you can kiss your butt goodbye."

"Just so you know it always hurts like hell when girls get hit on the boobs," Temari glared back, "_Always_. I just happen to be good at handling the pain most of the time. Today, my boobs happen to be sore. Why? Do not ask me. It's a boob thing to get sore from time to time. And _you_ stupid asshole put all your thousand pounds on top of them. Think about that."

"Uhhh... whatever," Kankuro mumbled incoherently, and then more ferociously added, "I'll be watching you."

Gaara stared as his brother stalked out of his office moodily, and then proceeded to put the cork back on his gourd and sit back down on his chair. "Continue," he told Temari as if nothing had happened, motioning for her to sit down again as well, which Temari did, rubbing her belly, and wondering if the baby could have possibly even survived after she was victim of Kankuro's tackle and Gaara's sand coffin. Maybe it had died and there was no need for Temari to tell her brothers and risk her life. Or Shikamaru's for that matter. Telling them would have to wait until she found out whether the baby was alive or dead.

"What had I been saying? I totally forgot," she lied.

Gaara shrugged, "I don't know. You hadn't quite started yet, but either way since you're here already I might as well tell you now that the hokage and I think it's best if you and Shikamaru stop seeing each other…."

Temari stared at her brother as if he had just grown another head; Gaara looked out the window uncomfortably.

"…What did you say?" she asked in disbelief. "Why?" Maybe now wasn't too late to tell him she might still be pregnant! But what if she did and he got mad and killed her and Kankuro got mad and killed Shikamaru and it turned out that the baby had already been murdered by her brothers with that tackle and coffin from three minutes ago? Why was it all turning into a mess?

"Believe it or not, you're very important to me, Temari. Our village needs you. If you ever got serious with Shikamaru Nara and decided to marry him, the chances that you have to go to Konoha are ninety percent, while he coming to Suna is only ten percent. I can't afford to lose you. I _won't_."

"But I really really like Shikamaru," she pleaded. "What if we talk to the hokage and request she gives him to our village as a sign of friendship? We can give them Kankuro in exchange!"

Gaara smiled a small but honestly amused smile for a moment. "Kankuro is very important to me as well." It killed him to do this, but Shikamaru and Temari just couldn't be together.

"Then find someone else!" Temari's voice got a rather frantic edge to it.

The readhead shook his head, looking at her with deeply sorry, sad eyes.

"Gaara, you don't understand. You _can't_ do this." Temari's eyes watered.

"Why not?" he challenged painfully. He hated to see his sister so upset.

"Because I _love_ Shikamaru Nara!" her tears rolled down her face. She couldn't tell him about the baby. She couldn't risk hers and Shikamaru's lives for a baby that might not even be alive anymore. There _had_ to be a way out.

"I'm sorry, Temari," Gaara handed her a piece of paper and a pen. "I'll allow you to write one last letter to Shikamaru, and after this neither the hokage nor I will allow further communication between the two of you. It's for the good of our villages. I know it's sudden, but you have to understand."

Temari sobbed, her face turning an angry and embarrassed shade of pink. "Will anyone other than Shikamaru read my letter?"

Gaara shook his head. "I'll make sure it stays confidential between the two of you. It's the least I can do."

Temari put her head on the kazekage's desk and started crying harder. Why was this happening _now_?

"I'll be out training. I'll be back in my office in two hours. That shall give you plenty of time. Seal your letter and sign it on the outside. Leave it in my desk and I'll get a messenger to take it straight to Shikamaru Nara."

Temari nodded and snatched the box of Kleenex her brother handed her. Then as Gaara started leaving his office, Temari called for him.

"Yes?"

'Just tell him you're pegnant, Tema. Do it now. He just made you cry so he won't hurt you. He'll just make Shikamaru marry you.' "Gaara, I'm… I'm… I'm staying here alone in your office?" She chickened out.

"Of course."

"…You don't think I'm a spy?"

He almost grinned. "No, not really. You've been a little different than usual, but I think you have good reasons. And if you are a spy, I assure you I will kill you myself in the most painful way I can think of."

"Thank you," she sighed in relief for that. "Oh, and Kankuro said he would be stalking me so…?"

"I'll take him training with me. Just keep an eye out for clones." Temari nodded, and as soon as Gaara was out the door, she started writing her letter.

...

Temari sat in a corner of the kazekage's office crying softly. Sometimes, despite being the brutally realistic girl she was, Temari seriously wished her mom was still alive. Today was one of those days. If her mom wasn't dead, Temari could go up to her and tell her about the stupid baby. Karura would understand and protect her from Kankuro and Gaara, and she would make sure Gaara found a way to convince the hokage that Shikamaru and Temari belonged together. Everything would be alright, if her mom was not dead….


	3. Chapter 3

**Temari's Little Problem**

**Chapter 3**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto.

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><p>It had been exactly two hours after Gaara had left the office that he and another man walked back inside.<p>

"You're still here," Gaara said in surprise, looking at the weak and miserable blonde girl, analyzing her puffy, red eyes and disarrayed hair.

"I don't look cool," she whimpered. "I don't want people to see me."

"Did you write a letter?" he asked gently.

She nodded, handing the tear-stained envelope to him. Gaara handed the envelope to the other man. "To the village hidden in the leaves. Deliver it directly to Shikamaru Nara. If he's out in a mission, stay there until her gets back. They'll bill me your expenses."

"Yes, Lord Kazekage."

"And not a word about my _sister_," he warned the man, putting a focus on the 'sister' to make it clear that Temari was precious to him so he wouldn't tolerate her reputation being ruined by a loudmouth.

"Of course not, my lord," the man bowed.

"Go now."

The man vanished.

Gaara sat down behind his desk and started working on his papers, completely ignoring Temari's presence. He didn't want to help her—he didn't know how to. If anything he would just upset her even further. And besides, Temari was the type of person who didn't like help. If he just pretended she wasn't there, then it wouldn't be awkward for neither of them.

She stared at him from the corner in which she had caged herself. She wanted to be mad at him. He was separating her from Shikamaru. Just when she found out she was pregnant. That demonic brat was making her life even harder. But she _couldn't_ be mad at him. Her logical side always knew that dating Shikamaru would bring political problems. Gaara was being _Lord_ Gaara, a responsible kazekage, not a little brother trying to ruin her life. He needed to break them up for the good of their villages, and he didn't know she was (or had been) pregnant. Maybe he would have changed his mind. Or maybe he would have killed her.

God, she really couldn't bring herself to tell him she was pregnant. Gaara acted like a normal guy these days, but he was still a little mentally unbalanced and could freak if the shock was too huge. He was too unpredictable. What if she told him she was pregnant and afraid she had lost the baby, and instead of getting her a check up he just killed her on the spot? She didn't want to die, and she didn't want Shikamaru to possibly die as well.

She would just have to accept with quiet dignity that she could not be with Shikamaru anymore, and she would not mention the baby to her brothers. She would hope it was dead already, and life would go on. But if the baby was still alive…?

_Improvisation_. She would just have to hide her pregnancy and go along with the flow. If her little burden still lived inside her, then she would find the right time to tell her brothers. She had to do this with the least amount of bloodshed possible. If anyone, she wanted to make sure Shikamaru stayed alive, but sadly he seemed to be as much a target as she was. If Gaara didn't kill him, then Kankuro would. But Shikamaru was a smart guy; the moment he got the letter, he would come up with a plan to solve everything.

Therefore the mission would go as follows: If Temari was still pregnant, she would keep the baby a secret while she waited for a sign of Shikamaru. If Shikamaru never showed up, then she would have the brat and figure what to do with it later.

Her advantages: Gaara was clueless about girls and their bodies so if she did a good job he wouldn't suspect a pregnancy out of all things, and Kankuro, although more knowledgeable about females, wasn't as sharp as the redhead so it would take him longer to put one and one together.

Her disadvantages: Temari didn't know much about pregnancies other than symptoms and that having a kid hurt like hell, so she was lost about what going through a pregnancy would be like, plus she had no female guidance, and to top it off Kankuro would be keeping an eye on her.

Seriously, being reckless in hopes that she would just lose the baby sounded so much easier, but as much as Temari didn't want the baby, she didn't want to kill it either. If she lost it by accident, she could handle it. She was a tough girl and her life would go back to normal. And if it lived… well… it would ruin her life, but at least the guilt would not kill her and It (her baby) would be the one thing that would always be a reminder of her Shikamaru. Yeah, she couldn't purposefully lose It.

Would It look like its dad? Shikamaru... the man she would never see again... Temari didn't want to think about any of it.

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><p><strong>AN **Show some appreciation and leave a small review if you have a minute to spare :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Temari's Little Problem**

**Chapter 4**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.

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><p>Temari woke up in her room the next morning, dazed and confused. When did she get to her house? And what time was it anyways?<p>

Her brothers were having breakfast downstairs. Kankuro had cooked scrambled eggs since, Gaara was explaining, Temari, the usual cook, had been asleep for a good twenty hours. "I carried her back home and she didn't even stir," the redhead shook his head in a guilty manner. "I have never seen her so upset in my life. I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't come out of her room today."

"There's no way she's been sleeping all that time, Gaara," Kankuro said sourly, swallowing a mouthful of eggs. Behind him, Temari entered the kitchen. "She tricked you into thinking she's depressed, but I tell you, she's a fucking spy. She was probably lurking around our village at night and now is tired as hell. That nocturnal son of a bitch."

"I already fucken told you I'm not the fucken enemy, you fucking shit face," she hissed groggily, grabbing a plate from the cabinet.

"There's eggs in the stove," Gaara said quickly before Kankuro said something that would make her even crankier.

"Did he cook them?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, walking over to the stove.

"Yes, they are actually pretty—" CRASH! Temari's now broken plate interrupted Gaara.

"Clumsy, bitch!" Kankuro yelled at her. "Watch what you're—!"

"OOHAUGH!" Temari started gagging.

"In the sink! In the sink!" Gaara waved his hands around frantically, looking on with an anxious expression as Temari just stood there gagging and clutching her stomach.

Then it just stopped and she turned to see her brothers' worried expressions with her own green face. She had been getting nauseous from time to time, but never this bad! She was a gag away from puking, and both her brothers had seen her! She had to cover up!

"The eggs," she gasped weakly, her voice shaking. "Kankuro cooked the eggs? And I was about to eat them?"

"Now you've done it!" Kankuro jumped up from his chair. "Either you take that back or I'll kill you!"

"Why? It's not my fault your crappy food makes me want to puke," Temari swooned in place. She felt so dizzy.

"Stop it, Kankuro," Gaara ordered. "Maybe the eggs did have too much pepper. I liked them, but she doesn't appreciate pepper as much as we do. That's no reason to fight."

"_She didn't even try them_!" Kankuro pointed out, "But fines, I'm just never cooking for Ms. Only My Food Is Good ever again!"

"Thank God," Temari forced herself to smirk, leaning into the counter so that she wouldn't fall onto the broken glass. There were bright spots all around her.

"That's not nice," Gaara warned her. "It's too early to fight. Clean up your mess and cook your own food."

If she tried to pick up the broken plate, she was surely going to pass out. "Why don't _you_ help me clean that with your sand?" she suggested.

Gaara's face fell. "You're mad at me… I understand. I'll clean it up."

Her? Mad? She didn't bother asking what she was supposed to be mad about. She pushed herself off the counter and ran out the kitchen as stably as she could manage, desperate to get out from their sight. Once she was in the staircase in the living room, she held onto the handrails and half-walked-half-dragged herself up the stairs and into her room.

If she was still feeling pregnancy symptoms, maybe her baby was still alive? She climbed into bed and closed her eyes. Maybe it was just her baby dying that was making her so sick. She tried to meditate and relax, get her act together, but it wasn't long before there was a soft knock at her door.

"Come in," she grumbled.

Her youngest brother opened the door and peeked in. "I already cleaned the broken plate, Temari. Do you want me to bring you any food? You didn't eat."

Temari shook her head, still feeling slightly nauseous.

"I'll make sure to cook it myself."

"No, thanks."

Gaara opened the door a little more, seeing how she didn't look so mad. "I won't use pepper."

"No, thank you."

"I can go buy you food from some restaurant?" he suggested.

"I'm not hungry, Gaara."

"But you were going to eat the eggs before you realized Kankuro made them," he pointed out.

"_I said I'm not hungry, Gaara_," she said louder than she intended.

Gaara flinched, closing the door some so that only one of his black-rimmed eyes was looking at his sister. "If you change your mind, then let me know."

"Whatever," she mumbled.

"I'm… I'm sorry…" Gaara cleared his throat, "About Shikamaru." He closed the bedroom door completely.

Temari stared at where her brother had stood in disbelief. So Gaara thought she was mad at him for Shikamaru? And he actually felt bad about it? Who would've thought the brat had a heart!

"Temari?" Gaara was still standing outside her room. "We are going to go train with Baki, his new genin team, and Kankuro's genins today at midday. Be on the main training grounds on time… please."

"Sure," she grumbled.

All she wanted was to sleep another twenty-four hours, but of course she couldn't. It wouldn't be natural.

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><p><strong>AN **Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

**Temari's Little Problem**

**Chapter 5**

**A/N **In the last chapter Gaara told Temari they would go training at midday and here it goes.

It's only been two days in the story (the morning she got home and tried telling her brothers, only to be attacked and broken up from Shikamaru,

and then this happens right after the morning when she got nauseous and the whole thing with Kankuro's eggs.)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.

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><p>It was exactly twelve when Temari arrived to the sandy desert training grounds; everyone was there already. First up, Baki and Kankuro fought each other while their genins observed and took notes. Then, since Gaara was too dangerous to take on, they all decided that Temari should face the six children at once. Surely a jounin could handle them.<p>

Well, Temari had always been aware of the symptoms her pregnancy was causing. It wasn't just the random nausea and dizziness like in the morning, or the sore breasts and sudden lack of energy she got from time to time. During the past weeks her chakra levels dropped to an all-time low, and they would keep falling more with every passing month. As it stood now, she had to _struggle_ with the six happy genins.

"Come on, Temari!" Baki called from the sidelines. "Have you gone all soft now that you're a jounin?"

She ignored the comment, concentrating on dodging the hits as quickly as she could. She didn't want to let the brats punch her in the stomach. If her baby was alive….

"Get her, Dasuke!" Kankuro cheered for one of his genin boys. "Aim for her boobs!"

'Oh, hell no!' Temari had to end the training _now_. Pulling out her fan, the kunoichi blew all of the little kids away with one swift move of her weapon, using up all of her remaining chakra in the process. "Seriously, guys?" she smirked, even though she could barely breathe. "Do not ask me to train with you again until you are one hundred percent sure you can take me down." She walked to the sidelines and stood next to her brothers, trying to look as arrogant as she could.

The little kids dusted sand from their clothes and looked around in disappointment.

"Well then, how about Gaara shows them how to take you down?" Baki suggested. "Gaara, Temari, fight!"

Gaara walked to the middle of the field, arms crossed; Temari felt like crying.

"I can't fight _him_," she reasoned with Baki. "He's Gaara of the freaking Desert! Most people can't even touch him! And look around! This arena is nothing but sand! Do you want him to kill me or something?"

"Most can't touch him, but some who are weaker than you have actually managed, Temari," Kankuro smiled. "It started with the leprechaun with the bushy eyebrows," he recalled whimsically. "Remember? He was so fast that the sand shield couldn't protect Gaara, so then he had to use the sand armor and he still got through that."

"I remember," Baki scratched his chin. "The Chunin Exams. Gaara crushed the kid's arm and leg. Tried killing him but couldn't because the even bigger leprechaun got in the way."

"Whatever," Gaara grumbled moodily. "Let's get on with it, Temari."

"Yeah. Anyways, the little one sure put up a good fight," Kankuro chuckled, ignoring his brother. "And that was just the beginning of the beatings to come."

"I guess you're right…" Temari thought about it. "In the Chunin finals, the last Uchiha turned out to be just as fast at the little leprechaun. He actually made Gaara bleed," she giggled, and then both her and Kankuro exchanged glances and screamed in the most frighteningly loud voices they could manage, "BLOOOOOOD! BLOOOOOD! IT'S MY BLOOOOOOOD!" The elder siblings roared in hysterical laughter.

Gaara growled, pouting in anger. "Hurry up and fight me, Temari," he demanded.

"Sure!" the blonde laughed more. "I mean, if someone like _Naruto Uzumaki_ managed to beat you while you were in Shukaku form what can I not do?"

"Yeah! Yeah! And the bones guy would've killed him if he hadn't died because he was sick!" Kankuro clutched his stomach in more laughter.

Gaara's cheeks were as red as his hair as he waited for them to finish.

"And those guys that kidnapped Matsuri! They almost killed him twice!"

"Ooh, Kanks! And the one akatsuki guy with the funny hair actually killed him! Remember?"

"HAHAHAHA!" The elder siblings laughed and laughed and laughed until they had tears in their eyes.

"Enough," Baki interrupted the bantering, knowing that the ex-jinchuuriki wasn't finding the playful teasing according to his taste. "Temari, just show the genins how _you_ can hurt the kazekage as well."

The blonde's laughter died in a second and she shook her head, her face turning serious and then slightly nervous as she viewed Gaara's evil glare. "I don't want to fight him, Baki."

"Come on, big sister," Gaara smiled creepily. "Show us all how you can hurt me."

"You know I was kidding, Gaara, honey," she started shakily. "Don't be mad."

He pulled the cork from his gourd and sand raised. Temari gulped. This was insane! She had gotten tackled by Kankuro, sand coffined by Gaara, been ganged up upon by a bunch of genings, and now she had to actually fight the kazekage and all within not even forty-eight hours? If her baby was still alive, at this rate, it wouldn't be for long. Temari had to avoid fighting him; her chakra was gone and her body was feeble so she could not avoid all his attacks. But what could she do to stop the match? How come everything that had seemed so funny just seconds ago was now completely gone?

"I'm sorry, Baki, but I refuse to touch Gaara even if I could," she said firmly, turning her back on the redhead, hoping it wasn't the mistake of her life. Her heart was beating so fast she could feel the thumping in her entire body. If her sudden plan didn't work, she was in for a world of trouble.

"What are you saying? What are you doing?" Baki's jaw dropped open. What was she thinking, messing around with Gaara like this? Was she trying to get herself killed?

"Temari, face me," Gaara hissed, "Or are you too scared?"

Yes she was, but that was not the point. Temari sighed internally, couldn't believe she was about to sink so low. "Gaara," she said in he most heart-breaking voice she could make, "I couldn't care less if you killed me. To be honest, the second you told me I couldn't be with Shikamaru anymore was the second _I lost the will to live_," she wailed in false misery. "However, I do _not_ want to die by _your_ hands, you who have hurt me so much already. I won't let you hurt me anymore!" She turned to glare at Gaara and then at Kankuro and Baki icily and stomped away from the training grounds, daring them silently to try and stop her.

And no one did. Her plan worked and she got home in one piece, and yet she felt surprisingly horrible about guilt tripping Gaara the way she had... After all, the young man had looked awfully sad about separating her from Shikamaru and quite eager to make her happy again, offering to cook for her, cleaning up her broken plate…. She sat down in the living room couch, coming to the decision that despite her doubts, everything she was doing was ultimately for the good of her baby so it was okay. That match _had_ to be stopped. And if it hurt Gaara then she felt really bad but maybe one day soon enough he would understand. For now, she got out of another problem without causing any mess.

She turned on the TV and started watching some crappy reality show, trying to forget about her own life, but not even ten minutes later Kankuro entered the house, looking rather annoyed. "_Temari_!" he yelled.

"What's up?" she looked up at him from her place on the couch. 'Please don't ask about earlier; please don't ask about earlier….'

"What _the hell_ was all that about?" he demanded.

'Mother _fucker_!' she cursed mentally. 'Avoid the conversation; distract him'. "You know, your makeup looks like shit," she smirked, analyzing Kankuro's painted face.

He didn't even blink. "I don't care what you think about my face paint," he said through gritted teeth, "Just explain to me what the hell that crap was about."

'Oh crap, he's being serious.' "You obviously don't care or otherwise you wouldn't be caught dead wearing that shit."

Kankuro let out an exasperated breath and took off his hat. "_You can't possibly be Temari_."

Temari bit her lip nervously. Distracting him was not working. "What are you talking about? I always insult you."

"That is not what I'm talking about!" he raised his voice. "You might have the basic Temari personality down but you're obviously not her. Temari doesn't make scenes like the one you just did back in the training grounds."

"Making fun of Gaara?" Temari played dumb. "You started that."

"I'm not talking about making fun of Gaara!" he screamed, having run out of patience.

The blonde sighed. She had to tell him something that would satisfy him enough to shut him up. "I know, I know what you're talking about. It's just that… I'm really upset. I overdid it back there, but I _am_ upset because of the Shikamaru thing."

Kankuro's eyes narrowed. "The Temari I know would never show anyone how upset she was," he countered.

'A pregnant, hormone-filled Temari would.' "_Would you just leave me alone?"_

"No because you're a spy and I'll prove it, Faker. For a moment you almost had me thinking you really were the real deal, but no. Your dramatic little scene gave you away! Just you wait. I don't know what you want from our village but I'll find out and _you will die_." He leaned closer to her, trying to intimidate her, get some response from her.

She just stared back with a mask of cool indifference. "Are you done already? Kankuro, we just shared a brother-sister moment at the expense of our little Gaara. Can't you just please take all your suspicions and shove them up your butt? I already told you I am not a spy."

He considered it for a moment but then shook his head. "You're as bitchy as ever, so maybe you are the Temari _but_," he looked deep into her eyes, "I still think something's up and I will find out."

'I sure hope you don't,' she thought nervously. 'I sure as hell hope you don't.'

At least for now, Kankuro left her alone.

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><p><strong>AN **Comment/review/flame if you have time and energy to spare! Do you have any favorite moments from the story, perhaps?


	6. Chapter 6

**Temari's Little Problem**

**Chapter 6**

**A/N** In the story it has been 3 months since the last chapter and now Temari is 5 months pregnant.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.

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><p>"Gaara," Temari walked into the living room one evening when the boy was actually home watching TV instead of in his office. "I'm in the mood for some French fries with lots and lots of ketchup. Would you be a darling and go get me some?"<p>

"I am watching TV," he said in a bored monotone, not tearing his eyes from the screen. It wasn't often that he had the luxury to relax in his home.

Temari scowled. "Well, _sorry_! Maybe if you freaky bastard hadn't separated me from my Shikamaru I wouldn't be so depressed and eating like a pig!"

Gaara's eyes widened in horror and he left the house. Five minutes later he was back with a large order of French fries, twenty ketchup packages, a large cheeseburger, a grilled chicken sandwich, a strawberry milkshake, and a large Dr. Pepper, all for his darling sister. *

"Thank you!" she squealed, pulling his left cheek.

"No problem…" he said weakly, going back to the TV. Well, Temari had surely taken the separation really bad. She spent most of the time in her room, rejected all the missions he had tried assigning her, she didn't even bother training anymore, and she was 'eating like a pig'. How many food items had she forced him into buying her these past months with her mental bullying?

"_Hey, love hater, how about you go get me some mangoes and pineapple?"_

"_Lord Gaara, why don't you get someone to cook a turkey? Once when I went to the hidden Leaf, Shikamaru's mom had made some and—Oh! SHIKAMARU! Whaaa! Whaaa!"_

"_You know, I haven't had any spaghetti ever since you broke me up with my boyfriend. Now ex-boyfriend. And I love spaghetti... a lot."_

"_Gaara! I want cotton candy! NOW!"_

"_Gaara, I burned my hand when I was burning some of Shikamaru's old gifts. You know? Trying to get over him. So since technically I burned my hand because of you and now I can't cook, would you please bake me some chocolate chip cookies? And make sure they aren't sandy."_

"_Gaara, bring me a pizza."_

"_Gaara, get me some grapes."_

"_Gaara-sama? How about you and I go out for ice cream today?"_

"_Oh Gaaaaraaaaa…!"_

She was eating an awful lot. Gaara shivered. One would even say she was pregnant.

Kankuro reached for Temari's fast food paper bag. "Ooh, what do you have in that bag?"

"It's mine," she snarled. "Do not touch it!"

"What the hell got into you, you crazy bitch? You never eat that much! Share with me!" he demanded.

"No!" she screamed.

"_Come on_!"

"I said no!"

"Fines, hope you choke on all that ketchup!"

She flipped him off.

"I don't care!" Kankuro yelled at her. "You're the one getting fat anyways!"

Gaara raised the volume in the TV, biting the inside of his cheek anxiously. _They were fighting again_.

Temari grabbed her food and went to eat it upstairs angrily. She _was_ getting fat. She was five months into her pregnancy and even wearing loose shirts it was becoming apparent that her belly was stretching. However, it still hurt when Kankuro just said it like that.

Rubbing the little but obvious bump as she laid back in her bed that night, she kept trying to think of a plan to go visit a doctor and get checked out. Her baby was alive. It had to, or otherwise it wouldn't be growing so much, right? Then again, her belly _was_ relatively small compared to other pregnant girls she had seen. Maybe it wasn't growing as much as it should because it was dead? She hadn't felt any movement from it after all. But then why was she eating so much and why was she suffering pregnancy symptoms still? Her baby _had_ to be alive. Her belly was just quite small for five months because she was a very fit person herself. As the reason why it wasn't moving, it was because the kid was Shikamaru's child. It was too lazy to move.

She liked her theories; she found comfort in them. The idea of giving birth to a dead child frightened her more than she had imagined.

After the series of accidents she had suffered when she first realized she really was pregnant, she had decided she would have to find a way to stay inconspicuous in order to protect the baby. She had managed to stay away from any missions and ninja activities that could harm the thing inside her, and for the most part her symptoms did get better. Gaara was convinced that her odd behavior existed because she was going through a huge depression he had caused when he ruined her love life, and the only thing about her pregnancy that truly attracted attention was her eating habits.

She was eating more than usual, and she was eating some strange things that she never tried before, like Gaara's favorite, liver and salted tongue. Gaara was worried and Kankuro was officially freaked out and suspicious, and it was all because of those cravings' fault! If she didn't please them, they threatened to drive her insane, and if she did please them, then she ended up having to guilt trip her little kazekage brother into getting her whatever it was she wanted _and_ she ended up looking like a total fatass!

At least, like she had thought, the little redhead was clueless and the puppeteer was dumb. Well, not so dumb.

Kankuro had been close to his sister his entire life, even if half the time they didn't get along, and he had especially noticed her rapid change in behavior, a change he considered had no explanation. Even if Gaara was convinced it was just depression she was going through, and even if Baki thought she was just throwing a massive tantrum to get Gaara to talk to the hokage, Kankuro knew better and would not back down. What was happening to Temari was beyond a dude. It was… it was as if something inside her had completely changed. She wasn't the sister he remembered. Sure, she was still the bitch that would call him names and insult him every time she had a chance, and yes she had been the loyal best friend who had joined him in teasing Gaara a couple of months ago, but the warm feeling only he would get from her was gone and _that_ was what no one understood. The normal Temari was gone. Now she was mysterious and unapproachable, but she was not broken the way they all thought. His Temari was no weakling. She was no pushover. She would not fall apart over a man. _If_ it was the Shikamaru thing that had changed her, then she would use all her power, brains, and virtues to fix the situation. Kankuro could in fact see how her odd behavior was all her strategy; however, he was not convinced that love was her problem. It had to be something that happened before Gaara told her about Shikamaru. It had to be… it had to be what she was going to tell him that day she got back….

"_Hey, Kankuro-sama!" _

"_What's up?"_

"_Oh! Nothing! I want to tell you something, you handsome, smart, wonderful little brother!"_

"_What is it, whore?" _

"_I'm… I'm… I'm p-p-pr—"_

"_Pregnant? You better not say you're pregnant or else I will slice your stomach open and pull that thing out of you!" _

"_Me pregnant? No way!"_

"_What were you going to tell me then?"_

"_That Gaara said I'm going to be protecting someone very important on my next mission!" _

"_So? Protecting people missions are the easiest missions ever."_

"_Whatever! If you have a problem with the way Gaara appoints missions then take it up to him and leave me alone! I am going to go give him my mission report!" _

Well. How the hell was Kankuro supposed to know what she was going to tell him? His bitch of a sister was being totally random these days, it could've been anything!

"Hey, Gaara. Do you remember like two or three months ago when Temari got back from her last mission?"

"When you accused her of being a spy and we almost killed her?"

"Yeah, when she insulted Mr. Brownie the teddy bear."

"Miss Brownie," the redhead corrected. "It's a she."

"_What_?" Kankuro eyed his little brother.

"When I was little," Gaara explained, "I associated men with cold, kind of like our father, and woman with warmth, like our mother. So I made Brownie be a girl bear."

"But… like… wasn't uncle Yashamaru a man you could associate with warmth?" Kankuro asked.

Gaara closed his eyes, recalling his uncle's face. "Indeed, but… he looked a lot like mother. He had very delicate features, instead of the stronger ones men usually have. So I convinced myself Brownie was feminine and friendly and warm."

Kankuro scratched the back of his head, speechless. His brother could be so bizarre.

Gaara pursed his lips. Should've just kept his mouth shut. "Were you going to tell me something about Temari?"

"Yes. Ummm… do you remember if she told you anything that day she got back? Before you told her about Shikamaru?"

Gaara thought back for a moment. "She gave me her report… and then… she was going to say something… something that was personal… a family matter."

Kankuro jumped up excitedly, "What was it? Think, Gaara, think!"

The young kazekage scratched his head. "I don't think she ever told me. That's when you interrupted her and we never got back into that conversation."

Kankuro's face fell. For a moment he thought he had solved the mystery. "Well do you have any idea what she was going to say?"

"It could have been anything." Gaara thought for a moment. "A complaint about you. Maybe about the both of us? It couldn't have been important considering she never brought it up again," he shrugged. When Kankuro just stood there, the redhead sighed in resignation, fearing the worst, "Do you still think she's a spy?"

"I don't know… I'm not sure if she's a spy or not, but I know she's up to something and I am going to need your help."

Gaara cocked his head to the side cutely, listening to Kankuro attentively.

* * *

><p><strong>AN** A reviewer pointed out to me that she shouldn't be feeling so sick since she is a physically fit woman, but I have a few reasons for writing what I did.

So in case anyone has wondered this as well: First, I admit I don't know much about pregnancies myself! So I'm working with what I have.

Secondly, the plot requires it! Who wants to read about the perfect secret pregnancy anyways?

Also, yes, they sell fast food and all the foods I mentioned in Sunagakure XD Just kidding!

Do keep in mind that this is essentially a drama story with a lighthearted tone. I have several out of

character moments and crack-fic-ish elements so don't take the foods so seriously. Just go with it :)

Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

**Temari's Little Problem**

**Chapter 7**

**A/N** This happens just a few weeks after the events on the previews chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.

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><p>Gaara was such a whore! Just because he was the kazekazge he thought he could boss his big sister around? How dare he! Temari was absolutely furious!<p>

"I am sending you on a mission," he had said in his stupid formal kazekage voice.

"I don't want to," she had said quickly. "I don't think I'm up to it. I've been feeling kind of—"

"Down?" he suggested, rolling his eyes. "It's not up to me, really. The mission is in the little village south of Suna. Where you went last time, remember? This mission is related to last time's so the elders demand you be sent."

"Just tell the old farts to shove their orders up their—"

"_Temari_!" the kazekage warned her. "Watch your foul mouth when we're not in the house."

Temari pursed her lips. "Fines. Tell our wonderful elders that they can find themselves another ninja for the mission."

"I already tried but they didn't listen."

"_Try harder_."

"I already told you they didn't listen. It was all of them against me. Sometimes even the kazekage needs to follow orders." He paused thoughtfully. "Temari, I've been letting you get away with not doing a single mission in the past several months, but now I _need_ you to do this. I—I _order_ you to do this."

"Gaara! I can't—"

"_You will go to that village and complete your_ _mission_," he said sternly. "That's all I'm asking you to do both as brother and as kazekage. It's an easy mission. It would be D-ranked but since it's so political and it's a day away I had to bump it up to C-rank. All I want you to do is go check out the aftermath of last time's actions. Make sure everything is going smoothly there."

"That's a stupid mission. If nothing bad has happened then why bother?"

"Just do it," he growled.

Her fists clenched. "Fines, you asshole! Hope you're happy making me miserable!"

Gaara started shaking his head, eyes wide and frightened, but the blonde just left, slamming the door behind her. The boy sighed in relief; for a moment he thought she would slap him. His sister sometimes could be so scary, and the worst part is that nowadays that he was reformed he didn't dare defend himself from her. He would never lay a finger on her anymore.

On the bright side, at least now step one in Kankuro's scheme had been completed.

And now, Temari was upset. Damn, Gaara the bastard! That's why no one loved him! Because he always thought he could do whatever the fuck he wanted!

On the other hand, at least now that she would be away from Suna she could go get herself checked out at that village's hospital, and since it was an easy mission she wouldn't have to tire herself out much except for the journey there. Yeah, she could handle it. For the baby's sake. Her being so angry could not be healthy for it anyways.

Little did she know that Kankuro would be in the other village already when she arrived and he would be spying on her the entire time. The puppeteer was sure that she started acting weird when she got back from last time's mission, meaning that whatever was afflicting her had originated in that village, and if things went the way he expected then Temari would reveal what the problem was.

Back in the kazekage office, Gaara sighed profoundly. When the elders found out that he had sent both Kankuro and Temari out the village and not to real missions, they would want to strip him from his kazekage title. The old farts were always trying to find excuses on why he wasn't adept. He really hated those guys! But not as much as he hated Temari being mad at him….

If she didn't absolutely hate him for breaking her up with Shikamaru, then now that he made her go on an imaginary mission she would definitely despise him, especially if she discovered Kankuro over there. Damn. Why in the world had he listened to Kankuro in the first place? He would have to kill Kankuro when he got back.

...

Temari arrived to the village three days late, much to her chagrin. Her feet were swollen, her entire body aching, she had to stop every thirty minutes to find a place to pee, and she was starving. 'I am never having another child,' she rubbed her belly gently. Being pregnant sucked!

The kunoichi considered going to the doctor first thing and getting that over with, but her stomach rumbled otherwise. She remembered how hungry she was; everything she had eaten on the road went to the baby. Therefore she stopped at a local restaurant first to buy some food.

"Hello, ma'am," a short, sandy-haired waiter smiled, leading her to a table and taking out a notepad. "Would you like to order a drink now?"

"Yes, please," Temari replied politely. "I would like some sparkling green tea and a coke, and I want to order food now too. I want three riceballs, a food sampler, and the largest bowl of ramen you have."

The waiter scribbled the order down quickly. "Yes ma'am. Do you want me to bring the food as soon as it's done or when your companion gets here?"

She laughed nervously and blushed. "Actually, there's no companion…."

It was the waiter's turn to feel embarrassed. "Well now, you sure eat a lot!" he chuckled softly.

"Yes well you see I'm pr—"

"EXCUSE ME, WAITER!" an elderly woman interrupted Temari. "My friend and I ordered our food thirty minutes ago! What is taking so long?"

"Ugh, leave me alone you old hag," the waiter replied, turning back to Temari. "What were you saying, ma'am?"

"That ummm…" Temari looked around nervously. "You should go get the lady her food now, don't you think?"

"Eh, she can wait," he replied. "_What were you saying_?'

"Look at that!" a loud voice screamed. A short, sandy-haired man that looked just like Temari's waiter exited from the restaurant kitchen, pointing at his look-alike angrily. "A man wearing all black and a funny hat attacked me and is now replacing me!"

There were gasps around the restaurant as they all stared at Temari's waiter in utter shock. "Damn shinobi and their magic tricks," Temari could hear annoyed murmurs.

"What is the meaning of this?" she looked at the waiter-now-revealed-to-be-a-shinobi-in-disguise. Was he an enemy? This wasn't the right timing. If he was dangerous, then there was no way she could defeat him. She was so tired!

The sandy-haired boy looked around anxiously at the scowling people. "Just follow me. I'll explain."

"I am not going anywhere with you until you tell me what the hell is going on," Temari snarled.

"The people here don't like shinobi. Period. And since you're wearing a shinobi headband that makes you a shinobi and that makes you automatically unlikable. Follow me before we have to deal with these fucking civilians."

Temari considered it for a moment. She didn't have the strength to fight neither the fake waiter nor the civilians. "What village are you even from? What do you want with me? Are you my friend or my foe? Are you part of the reason why my kazekage sent me here? I can't just go with you if I don't know who you are."

The sandy-haired young man sighed in exasperation. "Temari, it's me, Kankuro."

That did it. "What _the fuck_ are you doing here?" she screamed. People were staring at them with even angrier expressions.

"Tema, Temari calm down," Kankuro smiled nervously. "If you follow me I will explain everything."

"You better start explaining now and it better be good or else—"

"_Calm down, Temari_," pleaded Kankuro. "There's no reason to get all aggressive."

"Well you better tell me what the fuck is going on, you stupid useless bastard! Or I'll _kill_ you!"

Plan B! Kankuro changed into his normal self. He hated to resort to his backup plan but… "Shikamaru Nara is here."

Temari choked on her own saliva, but within a minute both siblings were out the restaurant and on a rooftop.

"You got here three days late," Kankuro commented nonchalantly.

"Does Gaara know?" the blonde kunoichi asked, ignoring him. She was out of breath from getting on the rooftop, but yet she was unable to suppress the wide grin that wouldn't get off her face.

"No," Kankuro admitted unenthusiastically. "He knows I'm here to spy on you. I convinced him to send you here. But he doesn't know Shikamaru is here, and I hope he doesn't find out."

"You're playing with fire, you know?"

"I know," he grimaced, "But what are the chances he actually finds out? You and that boyfriend of yours are both so smart," he chuckled. "It just sucks seeing you so fucking uptight all the time, Tema. Like, geez, you're unbearable. Ever since Gaara and the hokage pulled that bitch move, you've become like dad."

"Hey, dad was a nice guy," she said defensively.

"To you. You were his princess. He was a dick to me, and to Gaara as well."

Temari shrugged. If her dad was alive, he would die if he knew she was pregnant. "So where' Shikamaru at anyways?"

"Patience," he said. "I know you guys have a lot to talk about, right?"

"None of your fucking business," she eyed him suspiciously.

"Geez, see? You're unbearable. I risk my head to bring you your boyfriend just to make you happy, and this is how you treat me?"

Temari's usually hard eyes softened, and for a moment, she looked just like their mother did in that picture they kept of her. To make her happy…? "Kankuro…" she said quietly, "Thanks."

"D-don't thank me; I just want you to stop being such a bitch all the time," he looked away, trying to hide a soft blush.

"But this is still the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me!" she laughed.

Kankuro grimaced in disgust. "My Temari never says any bullshit like that!"

"Well I'm still your Temari," she said confidently. "And I am thanking you from the bottom of my heart for giving me such a great gift."

"Well don't get used to it," Kankuro crossed his arms, scowling. "I don't particularly like Shikamaru, and I am not going to ever again risk getting sand burialed just to keep you two dating."

"I know," she said. "I don't expect you to do anything crazier than this. I just never thought I'd see him again, Kanky. Even if now is the last time, this is the best gift I could ever ask for."

"Ugh, shut up already," he covered his ears with both hands. A nice Temari was too disturbing, too much to handle. "Your boyfriend should be in room 28 in the village's main hotel. Go find him."

"Thanks," she hugged her little brother and pulled him down to kiss the top of his hat.

A panicked Kankuro pulled away roughly; Temari shook her head and turned to leave. Kankuro stared from the corner of his eye as she struggled to climb down the roof, instead of just jumping down like she always had, and wondered what secret she could possibly be hiding. The fact that she had mood swings didn't surprise him. She was a skank and had always had them. However her personality ranged from vicious bitch to indifferent, cold-hearted whore; sweetness was never present in her at all. The Temari he had just witnessed was sickeningly _motherly_!

But it was alright, because today would be the day he would know whether she was the real deal or not, and if she was the real deal he would find out what was the secret she was so protective of. Kankuro had in fact defied Gaara by bringing Shikamaru, and if Gaara found out he would not be pleased. For that reason there was no going back. If the Gaara and the hokage caught him, he would face severe punishment, but maybe if he found out Temari's secret—and it was an important secret like he thought it was—he could get some type of pardon, at least from his homeland.

All that was left to do was wait for Temari to spill the beans to Shikamaru as he spied on them, a task that should be easy enough for a master puppeteer.

On the other hand, Temari was wary. Kankuro had spoken with such honesty, but it wasn't like him to be so nice. He was up to something, and she was not the type of person to let her guard down.

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><p><strong>AN **Thanks for reading and even more thanks for comments :))


	8. Chapter 8

**Temari's Little Problem**

**Chapter 8**

**A/N **This happens straight after the events of last chapter, so as a reminder Temari is still 5 months pregnant.

Also, this and the next chapter turned out serious, but the silliness will pick up later on. :) Thanks for reading! Please review if you have a minute to spare!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.

* * *

><p>Temari walked straight to the village's main hotel, full of unwavering determination to clear things up with Shikamaru, but with her heart pounding in her throat all the same. She didn't know what to tell him, not even how to begin the conversation, and just thinking about it was enough to give her a headache. She'd been so sure he would come up with a plan, but now that months had passed and she understood better the graveness of their situation she wasn't so sure the young genius could come up with a plan anymore.<p>

She sighed. If only she had taken care of the little problem when she first became aware of it she wouldn't have to be knocking on the door of hotel room number twenty-eight feeling that she had to puke. And where the hell could Kankuro be now?

Shikamaru's voice came from the other side of the door. "Come in."

How careless from a shinobi and from a genius to just let a person in without knowing who it is, she thought, opening the door. He was looking for something under the bed and his butt was facing her. She cleared her throat and he yelped in surprise, hitting his head as he crawled from underneath the bed. "_Temari?_ I thought you were Ino."

"She came here too?" Temari asked casually, flopping down on the desk chair. She hadn't seen him in so long. Had he grown taller?

"Yeah, and Choji. We were on a mission together and since Kankuro sent me that letter earlier I explained them the situation and we decided to take a detour here."

And his hair looked so dark and… wait. So his team members knew? HIS FUCKING TEAM MEMBERS FUCKING NEW SHE WAS FUCKING PREGNANT!

"How do I know you're the real Temari this time?" Shikamaru asked her before she had a chance to blow up.

Oh, how could she be so _careless_? To the Leaf ninja's surprise, the pregnant young woman started laughing, a soft chuckling that turned hysteric. "Tell me, tell me, how do _I_ know _you're_ the real Shikamaru?"

"I asked first, didn't I?" He crossed his arms defiantly.

"Well guess what, you ass? I'm not telling you shit until I know you're not _fucking Kakuro or his dolls trying to trick me and stuff_!" She crossed her arms as well, looking at him smugly. How could she have let her guard down? She was stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Okay, so this Temari sounded a lot like his Temari (this was the fourth Temari to visit him so far) even with the quirks and all. Shikamaru did a series of hand seals and his shadow reshaped into a pair of hands that reached for the blonde, crawled up her legs, and rested on her inflated belly. "Shadow manipulation," he said simply. "A secret Nara technique."

_It was him_. She stood up from the chair and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly, and they stayed in their embrace for what felt like an eternity. Temari smiled. The young family was together at last.

Shikamaru frowned. She was pregnant alright so it _was_ her, but…"Your stomach feels too small," he whispered in her ear.

She felt fear crawling up her back. "It's just because I'm physically fit. It's alive in there."

He shook his head. "When my sensei died, he left his girlfriend pregnant. I was by her side the whole time, and her stomach was bigger than yours."

"So? All women are different," she snapped back. He was scaring her, but she refused to look panicked.

"I'm not saying something's wrong," he said really softly, seeing as how she was growing upset. "I just think it'd be a good idea to get you checked out."

"How do you want me to do that, huh, smart one? Kankuro is here and Gaara is in my village and there is no privacy anywhere!"

"Quiet," Shikamaru squeezed her hand. She was raising her voice, and Kankuro could be anywhere.

"Quiet? You quiet!" she pulled her hand back angrily, stepping away from him. "Why did you have to tell your team members about this anyway?"

"Because there was no other way for me to come here," he answered calmly. "Lower your voice, Temari. What if Kankuro is listening?"

To hell with Kankuro! "I don't care!" she shouted.

Just then a wet Choji ran out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel. He was used to hearing loud, angry women—his mom, his best friend's mom, Kurenai-sensei, Ino—but this voice, although slightly familiar, wasn't one he recognized. Temari and him stared at each other with wide eyes and rosy faces.

_Oh my God, he's naked_, she thought in horror.

_Oh my God, Shikamaru really knocked her up_, he thought in surprised amusement.

Shikamaru gave him _the look_. This was _the_ Temari, no doubt about it, and he and Ino better take care of Kankuro. Choji ran back into the bathroom to put his clothes on.

Temari was more than glad to have him gone.

"He'll scout the area so your brother leaves us alone," Shikamaru tried explaining.

But Temari was still mad. "Why would you tell that dumb bitch and the fatass that I'm—"

"Just shut up and let me explain," he interrupted her.

Choji came out fully clothed, exchanged a knowing glance with Shikamaru, and left them alone.

Temari sat down on the bed, looking irritated out the window. "You have it so easy right now! I've— I've been trying so hard to hide this from my brothers— from my entire village—and I'm so sick of it because I can't do anything— and you just go around telling everyone what I've been keeping a secret and—"

Shikamaru exhaled loudly, stopping her mid-rant. "I haven't told everyone, Temari, okay? Just Choji and Ino. That's it."

"But you told that stupid ass blonde!" she accused, glaring at him coldly. "You might as well have told everyone!"

"You're a blonde too," he smirked, hoping to lighten the mood. "Not all blondes are stupid; you know that."

"That's because I'm from the Sand!" she sputtered. "And we are amazing!"

His smirk doubled in size. "Can I just talk now?"

He was always so calm, so easygoing even when the world was falling apart. God, Kankuro might have heard them already (she doubted his loser teammates could do anything to sabotage her brother), yet Shikamaru remained cool. "Go ahead," she rolled her eyes. "Say what you gotta say."

That was more like it. He sat next to her. "You know, when I received your letter, I was… shocked. I thought you were joking. But then my hokage told me about us being over and… I understood."

They were both quiet for a long time. He didn't know how to continue, and she understood that.

"Did you come up with a plan?" she pressed a little.

"I tried…" he mumbled. "I thought of stuff but… there isn't a happy ending here. Do you understand?" His dark eyes averted from her bright ones.

She did understand. She had feared things wouldn't go smoothly as she approached the hotel room. Maybe she had feared that things wouldn't turn as planned all along but had been unable to fully admit it because the hope it gave her was what kept her going. "What did you come up with?" she asked shakily.

He looked out the window and answered quickly and straight to the point. "We can't be together anymore; they are orders and I tried to change the hokage's mind but… we've always known that what we had going could fall apart. We shouldn't be surprised, right? Because in a normal situation it would all have been fine." Temari nodded in agreement.

"Therefore I concluded our options are: one, running away together. No Leaf and no Sand. We combine our brains to not get caught. It'd be incredibly troublesome and stupid but… we got ourselves into this mess, didn't we? We can both pay the consequences together.

"The second thing to do would be that one of us keeps the _thing_. If you don't want it, I'll take it. It can grow up in the Leaf. It'll have me, friends, and everything it needs."

"Except a mom," Temari commented snidely.

"Or a father if you were to keep it," he agreed peacefully. "Although with you being a beautiful woman, I bet it would have a replacement father in no time."

She rolled her eyes. "Can we actually move on just like that?"

"The third thing we could do," he carried on, ignoring the painful question, "is the most practical thing to do in cases like this, and it's up to you. Lose the baby, or get rid of it as soon as it's born." He heard her gasp loudly. "Erase its existence…."

She'd already thought of those ideas, except for leaving the hidden Sand, which she would never in a thousand years even think of doing. "After all this time that's all you came up with?" she asked, sounding more heartbroken and upset than she'd wanted to.

"I came up with the three scenarios and the way to pull them off," he corrected.

"But you couldn't come up with a good scenario though!" she scolded.

She was always so aggressive and complicated, expecting more and more from him. He had tried to keep the conversation friendly, but she wouldn't even help him with that. What did she want from him? "I don't see you with a better idea," he reminded her through gritted teeth.

"You're supposed to be the genius," she growled back.

Oh? So he had to fix everything on his own? "You're the one who got preg—" he stopped himself. No, she was just being hormonal. He shouldn't fight back. He wouldn't.

But she was hurt. "What?"

He shook his head. "I'm sorry. Let's drop it. What do you want to do?"

"No," she said sternly. "Repeat what you said."

"_What for_?"

"Repeat it!" she yelled.

"Why are you trying to pick a fight with me?" he screamed back, standing up and whirling around to face her. "I'm trying to fix this mess as much as you!"

"No! You blamed me for this and it's not fair—!"

"I didn't mean it like that, Temari!" He punched the wall behind him. "_I'm sorry_!"

Silence ensued.

He was always such a relaxed guy, yet now he was angry. The baby. It stressed everyone out. It ruined lives. "Why did you even come here?" she asked Shikamaru more calmly but still fiery. "Because to be honest you're not being helpful at all. You're just… you're messing me up."

"I came here because I had to see how you and the… thing… are doing," he answered, his voice lowering. The news of the baby had been such a hassle for him; every single day he would think about how it was growing inside his Temari, and dread how troublesome it was for her to try to hide it. The thought of never seeing her again, of leaving her alone and pregnant like Asuma had done to Kurenai, if he died on a mission always nagged at his conscience, and overall his life was falling apart. Because as much as he sometimes wanted to blame Temari for it and just pretend she never existed the truth was that he was as responsible for the baby as she was and as a man he was supposed to stand by her side, even though as a ninja he'd been ordered to stay away. "Whatever you want to do, I'll support you. I didn't come up with a solution you wanted but… you're the one who is putting up with the worst part so whatever you say goes. _I_ don't know what to do…."

"I wanted…" she started slowly, and to her surprise. She wasn't sure what she was going to say, but somehow the words were pouring out naturally.

"Tema?" he encouraged her.

"I believed… I thought you'd find a way to keep us together," she said. "And I would have our baby and we would be a happy family living in the hidden Sand village." She put her head down, hiding her chagrined blushed face. "I somehow really thought that would happen. I don't know why; I can't believe I felt that. But…."

Shikamaru gulped. "That was never a realistic scenario."

"I know," she admitted, biting her lower lip as to not cry out.

Shikamaru sat down next to her again and smoothed her hair comfortingly. "We could always try explaining to my hokage and to your Gaara as a last resort. Maybe… who knows… they'll understand."

She shook her head quickly. "If Gaara doesn't kill me then Kankuro will."

"They wouldn't hurt you…" he said uncertainly. Most of the times he had seen her brothers they were… well… _destroying_ people. Him… they would probably hurt him.

Temari sighed profoundly and turned to face him, tears clinging to the edge of her eyelashes. "I think… the main reason I don't want them to know… it's that I don't want to _disappoint_ them," she grumbled. "When Gaara was captured and Kankuro was poisoned back in the days, I wasn't there to help them. And they _never_ shoved it in my face." Tears began to run down her cheeks freely. "And I've been trying so hard to be— I don't know— a _motherly_ figure to them because we are all alone and I want them to know I care for them and that I am the oldest so I'm responsible for them," she choked. "But I'm always bossing Kankuro around and overprotecting Gaara because I don't know how to be _good_ and now I'm— now I'm pregnant and I'm not married and I understand that you and I can't be together because of all the politics and God!" She sobbed loudly. "_Shit!_ I'm not scared of my brothers! I am just so embarrassed! How am I supposed to tell them I got fucking pregnant?" Shikamaru put his arms around her and she cried desperately unto his shoulders, harder than she ever had in her life.

Shikamaru on his part could only hold her tightly. She was the strong one in their relationship. Physically her attacks were more powerful, and when it came to their souls she was the one who could handle everything. The hidden Sand ninjas were given arduous mental and emotional training, she'd always said, but he had also noticed that life had made her and her brothers into the ruthless, unstoppable, badasses they were. Compared to most people he knew, the Sand siblings had had crappy lives. Temari was a strong woman and she could handle _almost_ everything; now it was about time she cried.

He hugged her trembling body tightly for several minutes, until her crying seemed to recede into quiet little whimpers.

"What do you want to do?" he asked her. It hurt him to know that the conversation was hurting her, but time wasn't on their side. "We'll do whatever you decide. Whatever."

"I don't know…" she said in between snivels. Or maybe she did know…?

"Do you want to have it?" he looked into her eyes.

She took a shuddering breath. "The best thing to do is obvious: lose the thing. I've always been ready to make sacrifices for the better good… but this time I can't put my emotions aside. I've tried and I can't. So I'm going to have it."

He didn't know whether to feel happy or sad, so he just nodded. "If you think that's best, okay," he kissed her forehead. "I'll… I'll even keep it and raise it if you want me to. I'll never tell anyone you're the mother, and he or she will be like siblings with Kurenai-sensei's kid—"

"No," she interrupted him. In a moment of inspiration, she felt she knew what she was supposed to do. "You don't understand. Gaara, Kankuro, and I didn't have our mom growing up, and _it hurt us so much_. I wouldn't wish to leave my child out there, especially if I'm alive. I can't."

"But if you keep it with you then—"

"My brothers will find out." The couple exchanged nervous stares. "There's no way around it, Shikamaru."

As a woman, she had to raise her kid. If her brothers tried to kill it, they would have to go over her. If they tried to kill her, she'd have to fight them for the sake of her child. If they went so far as to banish her baby and her from the Sand, _then_ with a devastated heart she'd go to the village hidden in the leaves like she probably would have if she'd married Shikamaru to begin with.

"If I have to choose between my baby, my village, and you, I'll choose my baby, followed by my village…" she said.

Shikamaru nodded in understanding. He wasn't pleased by her decision, but he would stand by his word of doing as she wished. If them parting ways, if she raising the kid on her own, was what she desired, then he'd respect her choice. What else could he do? He had already ruined her life enough as it was! "You really are a strong woman…" he mumbled in admiration. He felt something pinching at his heart; his view blurred as he realized he wanted to cry.

"You're a smart man," she kissed his lips softly, standing up. "Stay alive. We are in this huge mess because I wanted for the both of us to not die. I won't tell my brothers that you're the dad, but you'll be the first suspect anyways, especially if it looks like you when it's born, so watch out. I'm getting huge and they might realize what is going on before I get to tell them."

He nodded, blinking tears away, and allowed her to hug him. "Tema, before you go, can you do one last thing for me?"

"Yes?" she asked hesitantly.

"Let Ino check you out, please," he begged. "I know you don't particularly like her, but she's a medic-nin and it would make me feel a little better if she can— I don't know— make sure _it_ is okay in there."

As much as it hurt her pride, the comments about her too-small belly had created a desperate urge to know the health status of her baby, and if Ino could be of help then she'd accept. "Where's that bitch at anyways?"

"Wait here," he jumped up, heading for the door. "I'll go track her down and tell her to come over."

Once outside the room, he allowed himself to cry some. Men didn't cry, but he was losing his kid and the best girl in the world at the same time. Even worst, he was allowing them to walk away, and it hurt a lot. How could Temari just go through with such a big decision like that? Sand ninjas really were strong. _She_ was too strong.

Inside the room, Temari sat down on the bed once again. The meeting did not go as expected. No— it went as it was supposed to be expected. It just didn't go the way she'd wanted. However, if it triggered her to realize her true ideals and make life-changing decisions that she would have otherwise have to make while giving birth, she was glad they'd had it. She would be a mother, whether for good or for bad, and with that decision in mind she could plan the steps for the future.

A future without Shikamaru. She loved him, or at least she thought she did, as she was for sure fond of him, but at the end of the day she had meant it when she said she would pick her baby, followed by her village, over him. As disturbing as it was, she loved the baby. She loved the unborn, bastard, life-wrecking son of a bitch and she couldn't deny it. Why else was it still inside her? Not because she was a nice, kind woman full of compassion. She had killed kids before. She was a bad girl. The only reason why she allowed the thing to live was because she couldn't bring herself to murder it. Call it blood bonds, mother instinct, or whatever crap, it was sort of magical how the fetus was lovable enough to get her to want to protect it over her own selfish happiness.

Because as things stood, once the shit hit the fan her career as a kunoichi would be, at least for the time being, over. She could imagine Gaara's cold glare, Kankuro's furious face, the elders' scolding glances, and the villager's biting remarks already. The whole Sand village would want to disown her over the disgrace she had become— a single mother— but Temari could easily stand that, because no matter what that village had always been her home, and it would forever hold her loyalty, her patriotism, and her world. In a way, she was glad to have gone through so much crap in her life. She'd lost her mother, then she'd lost her daddy, she had spent almost thirteen years of her live living with a hell of a monster, then she'd gotten the fright of her life when she almost lost both her brothers, then she had gotten accidentally pregnant, and then she had lost her boyfriend when she needed him the most. Too many trauma-inducing events for a twenty year old, not counting the countless, sometimes life-threatening wounds she'd received from being a ninja. She was truly grateful for the tragedies though; compared to all the angst wasted over them, the embarrassment of a whole village looking down at you and calling you a whore could be compared to a paper cut next to a cut from a sword. It was nothing she couldn't handle, and it wasn't a motive so powerful as to drive her away from her beloved land. The hardest part would be looking into her brothers' eyes, but apart from that the comfort that came with knowing there's a place to call a home was indescribable.

It was certainly more comforting than knowing there would be a man by her side, since, despite going out with Shikamaru, she had always retained her strong will and independence. She was used to being a free spirit, like the wind she so masterfully worked with, and she liked it that way. That was actually one of the best parts of being with the Leaf boy: he was never overbearing, because he was a little younger than her or because of his overly passive disposition, it didn't matter. Having him by her side to help raise their baby would have been lovely, but it wasn't necessary. She was strong; one way or another she was confident that she could do just about anything on her own. She loved him, but living without him was easy. She'd been somewhat prepared to break up with him if politics became a trouble, and she had always kept in mind the possibility of him dying on a mission. Things just got out of control because she got pregnant.

She was used to making sacrifices, and as far as sacrifices came in this situation giving up a man she didn't really need was the most reasonable path to take. She was doing the right thing.

Shikamaru forced himself to stop crying. Temari was doing what she thought best for herself and for the kid. Even if it made him feel miserable and guilty, he had to trust her instincts. He'd gotten her pregnant and ruined her life. Losing her was his punishment. She on the other hand would be alright. Kurenai and her kid were doing fine without Asuma. Temari and their kid would be fine without him. Shikamaru wiped his face with his sleeve; even if he wouldn't be right by his Temari's side, he would always help her out however he could from afar. He went out into the village in search for Ino.

Ino and Choji. Shikamaru felt a shiver run down his spine. Temari and he had gone so deep into their own little world that they had completely forgotten Kankuro. Had Ino and Choji been able to keep Kankuro away from the area? He hadn't been attacked yet, but the puppeteer was surprisingly sneaky. For all he knew, if he kept being careless that day would be the last day of his existence.


	9. Chapter 9

**Temari's Little Problem**

**Chapter 9**

**A/N** Want something _really good_ to read while you wait for the next chapter to come out? Check out my short tragic fairytale one-shot 'The Shukaku's Son'! Jk! I really suggest you check out **'Break Down'** by **MorriganFearn** though, especially if you like Sunagakure! .net/s/5376548/1/ It's one of the most beautiful, in depth, and high quality fics I've ever read on this site, and best of all it's about the Fourth Kazekage! *fangirl squeal!* Is it weird that I'm in love with Gaara's dad? O.O

Moving on, this is so late because I lost my internet for an entire week (damn you AT&T!) and also I didn't like how this chapter had turned out so I rewrote pretty much all of it. The other version had more lightheartedness to it for the most part, but this flows better so I hope you like it because I worked really hard on it :-/ I edited for hours ( and I always edit for hours, so you know this got complicated).

So yeah, another serious chapter but I'm halfway done with chapter 10 and I promise it's a lot more upbeat! :D Look at the note down at the bottom in case I failed as an author to make clear what's going on in the story. Otherwise enjoy! And thanks for reading and all those nice things you do! :)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

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><p>What was the wetness? Blood? So much of it… something definitely was wrong.<p>

"Kan-Kankuro?" Temari sat up on her bed. A powerful pang attacked her lower belly, making her double over in pain. But how could it be? She'd only been pregnant for eight months. How could she be giving birth already? Her baby moved within her, as if asking for help. "_Kankuro!_" Temari screamed in unabashed panic.

But he didn't respond the first time, and he didn't respond again. She'd been fast asleep before the uncomfortable sensations started and what she supposed was her water had broken. He probably wasn't even home. "Kankuro…! Gaara…!" she called out weakly. She knew she was alone. "_Help me…!_"

Her belly had looked awfully small when she was five months pregnant. Shikamaru had said it, and then the bitchy medic Ino had said it.

Her stomach had been small enough for people to not suspect she was carrying an infant. Kankuro and Gaara, both of who still didn't know her great mystery, and anyone who saw her noticed that she had put on weight, but with she not being absolutely huge and wearing baggy clothes no one questioned the reason her body was changing. It all seemed to work out in her favor.

Two weeks after seeing Shikamaru, while locked in her room and wallowing in self pity, she finally started feeling movement inside her, and the gesture moved her, encouraged her to stay strong. Her baby was living and kicking! She tried, she really did, to go back, somewhat, to the girl she used to be. Loud, bossy, snobby. She couldn't do it.

She'd lost her spunk, and despite the renewed hope she felt feeble and weak. Almost sickly. By month seven she wouldn't leave her room. Firstly, because her stomach had stretched from one month to the other and now there were no clothes that could possibly hide her obviously pregnant belly. Secondly, because she honestly thought her legs would give out underneath her if she tried so much as to stand up. Ino had given her some natural energy pills back in the meeting, and while Temari used them to give herself enough power to do basic functions, like eating, showering, and walking enough to reach the bathroom, all she could really do was lay in bed and rub the baby bump, talk to it, feel it kick and punch her, sleep, and pray for the creature to be alright in there.

But now she knew her kid wasn't as okay as she was hoping it to be. Eight months and he was coming. She needed a doctor; she needed her brothers to aid her immediately. But Gaara was kazekageing in his office and Kankuro was out. She let out a loud groan and fell on her knees, the pain on her lower body indescribable. Worse than being stabbed; worse than getting burned. Worst than anything she had ever felt in her life. It was pain so intense that it left her mind cold and numb. She was on all fours and crying loudly, too petrified by what felt like a slow death to try moving but fighting with all the strength she had left to not collapse, because if she collapsed she feared not being able to get back up and this was definitely not the time to stop being the strong person she was.

She'd come so far to keep her baby, Shikamaru, and herself alive, she thought tiredly in a moment when her eyes could see through the cloud of pain. Why was this happening now? Her premature baby wouldn't make it, she would die giving birth, and Shikamaru would get executed…? So much for keeping the pregnancy hidden in order to avoid bloodshed. She could _not_ give up now. She would _not_ lose it all. If the help she so desperately needed wouldn't come to her, then she would drag herself to it. Because Temari had given herself the mission of having the baby, and like with every other mission she would do _anything_ to accomplish it.

She stood up, slowly but surely, shaking, struggling for air, crying, almost tumbling, and she walked. One step at the time. One step at the time. She reached her bedroom door and swung it open, hanged on to the handle while she let out an anguished scream. Moved on as she kept walking, one step at the time, weeping. One step at the time down the hall. She could feel sticky warmness trailing down her thighs, down her knees and lower legs. But she kept on walking, one step at the time. Her baby pushed against her flesh from the inside, and she let out a distraught cry because even if she tried she couldn't move any faster. _Where… are… you…?_ She kept moving forward, one step at the time. _Kankuro. Gaara. Shikamaru. Karura. Hiro. Yashamaru. Baki._ Where were the ones she loved when she needed them so much? She reached the top of the stairs and stopped, dropping lightly to her knees. It was over. She lay on her back and closed her eyes. She couldn't go on anymore. The pain was unbearable, the stairs an impossible obstacle. It was over.

"_Can you tell me if it's a boy or a girl?" _she remembered asking Ino three months ago.

"_No,"_ the younger woman had smirked. _"I don't have x-ray vision."_

Pain was engulfing every fiber in her body, but Temari wondered the same question again. Even if she and the baby died like she feared they were doing, she wanted to at least get to know its gender. She didn't really care what it was; Shikamaru on the other hand had mentioned to her that when he had a family he would prefer to first have a daughter. Not that it mattered really, since he wouldn't have much access to the baby to begin with. She had never decided whether she would publicly admit to him being her kid's father, now that she thought about it. He would undoubtedly be the number one suspect, but what could be the consequences of everyone in the Leaf and the Sand knowing they had a kid together? Nothing good as far as politics and society were concerned. As if it mattered. At the rate she was going her heart would wind up stopping.

She groaned in discomfort as new waves of pain hurt her. How long had she been on the floor for anyways? Surely at least two hours? She needed a distraction. She needed a name for her baby! She never gave it a thought, but now that they were both dying she ought to at least name it…. If it was a girl… Karura, like her mother? It was such a dark name, though…. Maybe—!

She yelled to the top of her lungs, writhed on the ground back and worth, bit on her lower lip so hard it drew blood. The pain was turning more and more grueling. She felt the strong temptation to throw herself over the stairs and embrace her death. The sooner it was over the better. But her child was still moving. If it had a chance, she couldn't let it down. Her own little brother had been premature and survived (disregarding the facts that he'd been surrounded by medics and was a demon vessel)! Why couldn't her baby defy the odds and be a survivor as well? Maybe it was strong like her!

All she had to do was get back to her room and give birth on her own. Easy enough. But as soon as she attempted to stand up, she shrieked again. It hurt too much and she needed help. Shikamaru's help. He was a genius. He could help her deliver their baby. But he wasn't coming. He was in the Leaf village and didn't know his son or daughter was on its way.

And maybe it was best that way. He wouldn't have to suffer seeing her like this. Yes, it was better the way things were. Shikamaru was probably happy right now. It was okay.

"_Why are you doing this?"_ she had asked Ino.

"_Huh?"_ the younger woman had looked up.

"_Being so… _gentle_."_ She cringed at the word. Was the peroxide idiot feeling pity for her?

Ino giggled. _"I'm not being gentle because of you. I'm just doing it because of the baby, because of Shikamaru's baby."_

Of course. Temari had always indulged in calling Ino pig dumb, because she lacked pure kunoichi strength, because of the unnecessarily provocative looks and personality, and just because deep down she outright felt… _envy_… of the bitch for spending so much time with _her_ boyfriend. She had always seen it, the way she took care of her Shikamaru, and it made her jealous. But not anymore. Because she couldn't keep thinking of Shikamaru as her boyfriend, she had to let go, and because when it was time for him to settle down and form the family he wanted, who was better for him than Ino, the girl who had known him all her life and who genuinely loved him?

"_Take care of him, alright?"_

"_Sure will."_ Ino returned to work.

"_I mean of Shikamaru."_

"_Huh?"_ Ino looked up at her again. Teal and ice blue eyes connected, and Ino knew what she meant. _"Whoa, whoa, whoa! _No_! Hold the phone! We're just _friends_! I've known him my entire life!"_

Temari shrugged. It was a shame if she couldn't fall in love with Shikamaru, but, _"You still love him, though, don't you? So do me a favor and take care of him. At least make sure he doesn't end up with someone bad like me again, okay?"_

She younger woman was speechless, but she nodded and went back to work. It was until they were done and looking for Shikamaru so that they could part ways that she'd said, _"You know, you weren't that bad for him. He really likes you, and you made him very happy. But if you guys are really over, then I promise. His next girlfriend better be as great as you or else."_

She never in her life imagined she'd be hugging Ino, much less giving her a friendly kiss on the cheek, but there she was. _Thank you, for checking my baby's health and checking my health and giving me some pills and especially for loving Shikamaru_.

She had wished Shikamaru the best and hugged him goodbye.

And now she was completely alone and helpless. Except for her brothers. They were the only ones she had left, that was, if they ever forgave her for her misstep and lies.

To Gaara, she really owed him an apology. For making him feel guilty over her not-really-existent depression, and for bringing him so much stress. Even when she got from her 'mission' she had told the poor redhead to go fuck himself. She'd been so awful to her baby brother all this time, and was finishing him off by bringing him great shame.

And to Kankuro, she had to say thanks. Although he was a fucking prick most of the time and had made the last few months of her existence impossibly complicated, she knew he loved her. Before Gaara became their brother, when their father was never home, when they lost Yashamaru and felt alone, they'd had each other. A happy two-person family within their dysfunctional family. She had to thank Kankuro because he had proved his loyalty to her once more through his concerned suspicions. Because he had cared.

Gaara and Kankuro… would they get home in time to save her life, or at least to say goodbye? How would they react to the baby? Would they be fine without her…?

She thought of so many things, some happy things and other sad things, while she lay on the floor for what felt like another eternity. She couldn't cry anymore because her eyes had gone so dry, but she would still sob from time to time when she couldn't take it anymore. Erratic yelps and groans would still tear for her aching throat. Deep, controlled breathing was all the tired lungs could manage to keep the miserable girl from passing out.

"What is this? _Blood_…? Temari, where's the wound?"

It was Gaara's voice…? How sweet was his voice…. Usually a quiet and gentle monotone, deep, just slight throaty when he became agitated, and like unpredictable thunderclap when anger reached his vocal cords. She'd always wanted to hear him sing, but of course he never would.

"Temari, what is this?" She heard Gaara's wavering voice again. She opened her eyes painfully and saw what was in fact a blotchy but defined silhouette of her youngest brother. Bright red hair on pearly skin, and a mask of pure blackness surrounding pale teal eyes.

"Temari!" he screamed at her. It was so real.

It was too real. Fingers were clearing strands of blond hair from her face, prodding at her legs and stomach in search of a wound. She realized with glee that her beautiful Gaara was home! It was real…!

"Temari, can you hear me?" the boy held her face.

She nodded, trying to clear her mind from the pain.

"_What hurts?_"

"Baby…" she gasped out. "I'm having… a baby."

Gaara almost grinned. "Of course not. You have to be pregnant for that. You aren't even married."

But even he knew better. Her symptoms, her baggy clothes, her face when he separated her from Shikamaru Nara, her refusal of missions, her refusal to even leave her room, the pain that clung to every inch of her face and body, the way she had put on weight, the secretive, snappy attitude, all the strange foods she had consumed, the blood that was puddling underneath her lower body…. He grimaced as he realized where the blood was coming from and wiped the suddenly gross substance that covered his hands on his trousers.

It all suddenly had snapped into place. Temari was not depressed. She was pregnant! Even worse, she was giving birth! And he was the only person who could help her!

"_Kankuro!_" he yelled out helplessly.

"He's not home!" Temari moaned in discomfort.

"_Then I'll go find him!_" He stood up. He didn't know what to do. He was just Gaara the Kazekage. But Kankuro, he was smart and reliable. He would know what to do.

But his sister didn't agree. "Get a doctor instead!" she screamed at him.

"I need Kankuro first!" he yelled back nervously. He definitely needed Kankuro first. Because he was just the little sibling! What did he know about crisis like these? Being the best ninja in the village didn't mean anything!

Temari knew he was freaking out. Although his face was stony as ever, except for the random twitching of his left eye, she could hear panic flooding his always calm voice. "Gaara, _forget Kankuro_!" she ordered through gritted teeth. "Doctor! My baby is _premature_!"

Premature! A premature baby! Just like he'd been! How funny! "_Fuck_, Temari!" he tugged at his hair in desperation. "Fuck you, _fuck_ you, _fuck you_! Is there anything else I should know?"

He looked so hurt and confused that if he still had the Shukaku Temari was sure he would've lost his head.

"That I tried telling you before," she stammered, "But I was too ashamed."

Ashamed? Out of all things she should've been she was _ashamed_?

"And," she continued, "If you can help it, I don't want you to leave me…."

He was upset; what she'd done was reckless and unnecessary. "_You're an idiot_," he said slowly, furiously. "If you had told me, I would've taken care of you."

He would have? Or was he saying it because he also thought she was dying? "I'm so sorry."

"I'm sorrier." He kneeled beside her, tentatively stroking her hair. "You look pathetic. Don't you _dare_ die on me, you hear?"

She nodded and he did hand seals. One sand clone to get the midwife; one sand eye invisibly connected to the optic nerve of his left eye to search for Kankuro. No matter what Temari said, at least _he_ really needed his brother Kankuro to help him out.

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><p><strong>AN **Give me two weeks to finish chapter 10! I want 10 to be the last chapter, but I think it's running long as well so we'll see.

And ummm... expect childbirth, crazy brothers, and a glimpse of Suna history!

Now, here, obviously there's been a three month time-skip and it could be a little confusing, so summary: Temari is 8 months pregnant but is already going into labor. As she lays on the floor giving birth, she is wondering and remembering stuff, including what happened during time-skip.

Obviously Kankuro didn't find out. I had written how it is that Ino and Chouji distracted Kankuro in my first draft, and although I found it quite amusing I thought it distracted from the main plot too much and decided to cut it out.

Then when Ino was examining Temari several things happened. Ino gave Tema some energy pills, agreed that the baby felt too small, and declared it was alive. There wasn't much she could do though. Her specialty is healing. Temari on the other hand asked her to take care of Shikamaru, and actually hoped that they get together eventually. Ino said no, but she'll take care of him anyways. And the everyone said bye. All friends, no hard feelings whatsoever.

Back in Suna the baby started moving and Tema got rounder, but at the same time she started getting weaker and sicker. And then one day, bam! The baby is being born ahead of time.

And that's it? Any questions, leave them in the reviews or message me them. I'll definitely reply. Thanks for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

**Temari's Little Problem**

**Chapter 10**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

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><p><em>"In the market?<em>

_In the breeze?_

_In the desert,_

_In my dreams?_

"_My dear brother,_

_Where are you?_

_Temari is waiting for you, too!_

"_We will wait for you_

_Together._

_Please return to us!_

_We need you oh so much."_

Gaara finished his song, and Temari groaned loudly, her hands curling into fists. Another contraction. "Keep singing!" she demanded.

"I don't know any songs; coming up with that one was hard enough," he responded, but nonetheless he started humming a melody that didn't make any sense. Music seemed to distract Temari from the worst pain so he was doing his best.

The truth was that most of his attention was in the village's skies, materialized as a flying eyeball that was searching frantically for Kankuro. He had killed people in horrible, gruesome ways in his dark past and was used to death, but knowing that his sister could be suffering his beloved mother's faith was bringing him more distress than he could handle. Kankuro, Kankuro was strong. He could tend to Temari while he went to hide in his room and everything would be alright.

Temari groaned loudly again as fresh pain burned through her once more. "Where's that damned midwife anyways? Just take me to the hospital, dammit!" She'd been dying for hours. How long did it take to have babies anyways? "Gaara, please, help me get up," she commanded. She was breathing frantically.

The redhead shook his head no firmly. "I'm not moving you anywhere. You're hurt and I don't want to make it worst."

"I'm not _hurt_!" she corrected. "I'm just giving birth! So help me!"

"_No_."

"_Gaara_…!"

"I said no."

"Fuck you, then! _Fuck you!_"

He shrugged the insult off and continued his mindless humming, all the while continuing his search for— "_Kankuro_! I found him!" he announced excitedly, and then in a more surprised tone added, "He's kissing _Matsuri_?"

Well that was shocking even for Temari. "Isn't she your girlfriend or something?" she asked in bewilderment. "Shame on those bastards!"

Gaara released his third eye and scratched his head in confusion. "Well, I thought she wanted me but since I never liked her I guess she ran after Kankuro…."

Temari rolled her eyes. "Then it's your own damn fault isn't it?" she scolded him. "If you wanted the girl, you should have told her."

"But I don't want Matsuri. She's just my former student."

"Then what the fuck are you complaining abou— _Oh!_" Her body trembled as another painful contraction ran through her body.

Gaara panicked and did hand seals faster than he ever had in his life— another clone to drag Kankuro from Matsuri's fan-girly hands. "Hang in there Temari. It will all be fine when Kankuro gets here."

"Oh yeah, I agree!" she screamed in anguish. "He'll kill me and get it over with!"

"He won't kill you." Gaara looked at her sweaty face nervously. "He loves you too much, and I'll protect you if there's need to."

"I need you to protect my baby instead actually," she gasped in between breaths; the pain was subduing again. "I don't know what will happen to me, but in the worst case scenario you have to _swear_ to protect the baby, okay?"

"I won't do such thing. You're the mother; you protect it."

"Gaara, please—!"

"_When I got here you told me you wouldn't die_," he growled at her.

That shut her up.

The siblings were quiet for a long time, except for whimpers and ragged breaths that tore from Temari's tired body. Gaara couldn't take it anymore and went to get her some water.

She was scared. Kankuro would be mad, the doctor, midwife, or whatever the person was wasn't there yet, and worst of all the almighty Gaara looked like a frightened wreck. She hated it.

"Here, can you drink?" he returned with a water bottle. He put the container up to her lips and tilted it slightly so the liquid poured into her mouth slowly.

"Thank you," she said, and the silence returned.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Gaara asked in almost a whisper.

She managed to smile a little, although it resembled a grimace. "I don't know. What do you want it to be?"

He poured some water on his sister's forehead and let it run down her face. "A girl. It would be nice to finally have a sweet person around the house. What do you want it to be?"

"Either one is good really as long as it's healthy," she answered relatively calmly; a wave of new agony then made her scream hoarsely. Gaara cringed in horror. "You know, I take it back!" Temari gasped out, her eyes tightly shut. "A boy! I want a boy so that he never has to get pregnant! Oh fuck! Oh fuck! It hurts so much! Oh _fuck_!"

"Stop saying that abominable 'F' word!" Gaara squeezed her shoulder tightly. "If you keep it up, it will be your baby's first word."

But she couldn't give a damn what the baby's first word was! She just wanted it out of her! _Out!_

There was a knock on the front door and in one swift move Gaara was on the bottom of the stairs opening it. "Lady Motoko! Please, come in!"

"Lord Kazekage." A woman in her forties with brown hair and equally brown eyes smiled smart-alecky at the red-haired youngster. "Your clone summoned me to your home, sir…?"

"Yes," Gaara said rather curtly, stepping aside to let the woman in.

She didn't understand what was going on, but she walked in nonetheless. "Just so that you understand, I'm a midwife, my lord. I specialize in helping _women_ deliver their _babies_. Do you need me to help a _woman deliver a baby_? Because if not, then—"

"I know what you do!" Gaara cut her off coldly; he really disliked being patronized. Sure he was young but he was the freaking kazekage for a reason! "For over twenty years you've been working as a midwife, and I called you because my sister needs you _now_."

"Lady Temari?" asked the older woman in surprise.

Gaara pointed up the stairs, to where Temari's body could be seen trying in vain to sit up. "I require your outmost discretion," he warned the lady, too dangerously for her comfort.

The woman nodded anxiously and went up the stairs. "I had no idea Lady Temari was carrying a child."

"No one knew." Gaara shadowed her. "She didn't bother to inform anyone."

A secret pregnancy in the Kazekage's household, the woman mused. How interesting, and how stupid. The Wind children were just as bad as the late Lord Hiro and Lady Karura had been.

"My lady, how long have you been suffering contractions?" she asked the miserable-looking blonde girl when she reached the second floor.

"When the pain started?" Temari thought back exhaustedly. "I don't know. It's been so long already. In the morning."

The young woman looked a lot like Lady Karura, Lady Motoko noted darkly. Karura had been a little older than Temari was now when giving birth to Temari herself, but the resemblance was astonishing. She remembered the day so well.

"Help her!" Gaara barked at the woman impatiently.

Lady Motoko gave him a dirty look. "I can't rush these things, my lord. I know she's in pain, but she'll just have to deal with it. Now, help me move her somewhere more comfortable."

The redhead looked down at the floor. "No. Kankuro is on his way. He'll take care of moving her."

_Cowardly boy_, Lady Motoko thought in annoyance. "Fines. May I have access to water, towels, and—"

"You may have access to whatever you need in order to keep her alive." He glanced at Temari, silently wishing her luck, and stalked down the stair, outside his house. He would wait for Kankuro there, where he didn't have to hear his sister curse in agony every five minutes.

Lady Motoko rolled her eyes when he was gone. "Men. They are such cowards when it comes to these things." She felt Temari's belly with her experienced hands to see how far the girl was into labor and sighed profoundly. Temari didn't miss it. "You know, I remember the day you were born. Your father, the almighty Hero of the Sand, was about to faint." She put two fingers on Temari's wrist and felt for the pulse. The vain in her temple jumped a little, Temari noticed.

"You were there when I was born?" she asked, interested in the story, and liking the sound of chatty conversation to distract her from her horror.

"Yes. I was there for Lady Karura's three childbirths, just as an assistant of course."

"So you were there when she died?"

"… Yes I was," the lady admitted. "I was helpless then, but won't let it happen to you. Sounds good?"

"My baby is a month too early," Temari confessed.

Lady Motoko's face darkened instantaneously. "Oh, child… I'll do my best to ensure your well-being."

So it _was_ bad, like she'd feared? "Make-make the b-baby's life priority. G-got it?"

Lady Motoko never got used to when things like this happened. "I understand, but, my lady… either way the odds aren't in your favor."

A chill ran down Temari's spine. "What is that s-s-supposed to mean…?"

Outside the house, Gaara felt Kankuro's presence getting near quickly. He had been calmly trying to come up with the right words to explain what the emergency was, but his brother's approach took a hold of his emotions and he simply exclaimed, "She's pregnant!"

Kankuro stopped three feet away from him, his eyes wide in horror. "But… but I haven't even— _you_ knocked her up?"

To knock up? Gaara was a very proper young man. "What does that mean?"

"When you had sex with her!" Kankuro almost screamed at him. "Did you get her _pregnant_?"

"What?" Gaara's eyes widened. "_No!_ I don't have sex with anyone!"

"Who is the dad then?" Kankuro took off his hat and threw it on the ground. "And here she had me thinking she's so innocent! But duh! How could I be so _stupid_! She was all over you one day and now is all over me the next! What was I expecting? She's such a whore—!"

"What are you talking about?" Gaara interrupted him mid-rant.

Well, wasn't it obvious? "What are _you_ talking about?"

"About Temari!" Gaara said.

"Oh!" Kankuro exhaled in relief. "I was talking about _Matsuri_! You don't like Matsuri, do you? I was going to tell you about her but figured you wouldn't mind since you never pay attention to her anyways and what the fuck did you just say about Temari?"

"She's pregnant!" the irritated Gaara repeated clearly. "Well, she was. Now she's giving birth."

Kankuro froze on the scene. His sister Temari was… oh. Oh…! _Oh! No wonder_…. But how could… "Why didn't she _say_ anything…?"

Gaara shrugged. "I think she thinks you would've hurt her and the baby or something."

"Well, I would have! But that's not the point! O_h fuck!_ Where is she?"

The redhead gave one curt nod towards the house. "The midwife is with her already, but it's really bad. The baby is premature, so don't scream at her now. I found her half-dead."

"_She's dying too?_" Kankuro leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. The desert had suddenly grown cold and silent, and he felt sick and frightened.

Oh no, Kankuro looked like he was about to start crying. "You should go inside and… tell her to… not die…" Gaara suggested.

Kankuro did not respond.

"You should go inside and… be by her side."

Kankuro did not respond.

"Go in there and tell her she's a fucking idiot while you still have the chance!"

Kankuro looked up with a weak smile. "You said fuck."

"Fucking," the little brother corrected. "Today is not my day."

Kankuro nodded. "It's not my day either, and it's definitely not Temari's." He cracked his knuckles and took a deep breath, getting some of his composure back. "She better not die because I'll kill her myself when she's feeling better. Come on, Gaara. We have a stupid sister that we have to support."

Gaara shook his head and backed away, but Kankuro grabbed him by the shirt neckline and dragged him inside the house with him anyways. "_Temari!_"

"Basically, the women in your family are horrible at giving birth," Lady Motoko told Temari. "If it's not one thing, it's another, and it never ends well."

A new contraction started, but she was too concentrated on the new information to mind so much the pain. "_How bad is it?_" She grimaced.

Lady Motoko frowned. "I know for sure that it goes as far as both your parents' mothers. When Lord Hiro was born—"

"_Temari!_" Kankuro stomped into the house, pulling Gaara by the shirt behind him. "I know what you did, and you bitch are going to pay for it!"

"I told you not to scream at her now," Gaara grumbled in annoyance.

Kankuro ignored him and he and the redhead marched up the stairs angrily and hesitantly, respectively.

Lady Motoko stood in front of Temari protectively. "She's not okay now, Lord Kankuro. I do not know what's going on, but right now—?"

"Shut up, lady!" With a chakra string he picked her up as a rag doll and moved her out of the way. "This is family business. I want to hear what she has to say for herself." His glowering figured stood in front of a dazed Temari.

She squealed. "If you're going to hurt me, then wait until my baby is born, you motherfucking bastard! It's a month premature, and I don't want it to get hurt."

"You should've thought about that before messing with that asshole Nara, don't you think?" he growled at her. "Because it is the Nara's kid, isn't it? He's such a fucking coward."

Her eyes widened and jaw tightened as another contraction struck her. "This is _my_ baby! _Not_ his! Shikamaruhasnothingtodow_ithitsoleavehimalone_! _Ugh!_" she screamed and her body shook violently.

Gaara escaped Kankuro's grasp and buried his face in his hands; Kankuro remained unaffected.

"How convenient," he squatted down next to Temari. "You know, I _hate_ you for this. Look at you! How could you have just let that son of a bitch knock you up and run off? Now you look like you're dying and what not—" he choked. If he kept going he would start crying and he didn't need that.

The young woman closed her eyes and shook her head, fighting the agony coursing through her.

"Please, Lord Kankuro," Lady Motoko begged fearfully. The Wind brothers were intimidating. "Your sister and her child are in a quite critical condition. This is not the time to argue with her!"

He looked up at the woman sternly. "How bad is her situation exactly?"

"Well I was about to tell her that childbearing doesn't come easy to most women in your family tree," Lady Motoko started. "When your father Lord Hiro was born, his mother died in the process. When Lord Yashamaru and Lady Karura were born, they were premature twins who destroyed their mother's insides. The woman was never an active kunoichi again. Then when Lady Temari was born, Lady Karura couldn't handle it; we thought about cutting her open but somehow she managed on her own. And when you were born, Lord Kankuro, we thought you would die because you had the umbilical cord wrapped around your neck and we almost couldn't get you out fast enough. Then when Lord Gaara was born… luck wasn't on the lady's side. Her heart gave out. And now Lady Temari is giving birth to another premature child, and she never got medical attention so we don't even know the status of the baby. But from what I could tell from feeling her stomach, it's alive, it's tiny, and it's not in a good position for being this far into labor."

The baby's position was the most crucial piece of information, but the trio of siblings remained quiet after listening to the brief report about their family tree. They had never known a lot about it, since their father had been a serious, quiet man who never talked much about anything, and Yashamaru, before his tragic death, had always grown faint as if in a trance when questioned about his sister and the past. For the first time, Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara learned that their father never met his mother and heard something remotely close to a story about the days they were born. It was, even in the current circumstance, incredible, and they thirsted for more.

"Mother died because of the Shukaku," Temari said in a rough whisper, poking for information.

"No," Lady Motoko looked at her kindly, albeit a little surprised by the turn of the conversation. "The sealing did weaken her, but it didn't kill her."

"Then what did?" Gaara asked more directly.

Lady Motoko shuddered as she remembered the details of that fateful day. "The Shukaku had to be sealed inside an unborn baby. There was no other way, because if it got sealed inside an adult, no matter how strong the person was, he or she would lose their sanity. It'd been tried, and it had failed. And if it was sealed inside a younger person, a kid, the demon would take over the consciousness and the body. The host would become a human costume for the Shukaku to wear; it did more harm than good.

"So to solve that, Lord Hiro and Lady Chiyo came up with a plan that required placing the Shukaku inside a compatible baby and raising him that way. Babies can't move, so the Shukaku could not take control of the body, and baby's minds are still so young and pure and innocent; the Shukaku would not have any control over the mind and drive him crazy. As the baby grew, his body would adapt to the demon and have control over it instead.

"The problem was that Lady Chiyo was the only one who could do the sealing, as no one else knew how to. But the stronger seals she knew required the person doing the sealing to be sacrificed, and your father couldn't have her die. She was so important for the village and—"

"He implanted the Shukaku in me before I was born," Gaara interrupted, venomous resentment filling his voice, "So that my mother would become the sacrifice and not Lady Chiyo." He was thankful to Chiyo for bringing him back to life, and now he understood that his father had to kill him because he was dangerous, but nothing justified his mother being sacrificed over power.

"You're wrong, my lord," Lady Motoko corrected him quickly. "Your father really loved your mother. He did _many_ foolish things for her, and one of those foolish things was opting for a weaker seal to be performed."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Kankuro demanded.

Lady Motoko sighed in frustration, as if the answer was obvious. "Lord Gaara could not control the Shukaku, right? It disturbed him so much— he was so connected to the demon— because Lord Hiro ordered for the seal to be used to be a weak one that would _not_ require a sacrifice. That way he would get his jinchuuriki, even if a little unstable, and Lady Karura and Lady Chiyo would be safe."

"Then why did mom die?" Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari asked in unison.

"Because Lord Gaara was premature!" Lady Motoko yelled at them as if they were all stupid. "Lady Karura was always having complications! All her three labors were high-risk, and Lord Hiro did not understand that! He really, really thought Lady Karura could handle it! But _no_! The sealing weakened her more than she already was, and when it was all over, her heart just stopped from exhaustion!"

Temari started crying; the pain had nothing to do with it.

Kankuro looked at Gaara from the corner of his eye; he'd always blamed his kid brother for it….

Gaara just felt numb. "My father never told me that…" he mumbled weakly.

"Because he blamed himself," Temari stated coarsely. "Because he wasn't perfect and because if he said it was his fault then he would go insane."

Her brothers eyed her curiously, and she cleaned her happy tears and laughed. "You two think of him as a villain, but I remember when he used to be happy and laugh with me and my mom a lot. He really changed when she died, but I think that it's because he missed her. You said he loved my mom, right, Lady Motoko?"

"He adored the woman!" Lady Motoko replied, smiling a little. "Those two were really close, and everyone, especially girls like me who were the same age as Hiro and Karura were, were jealous of her. We dreamed of marrying the Hero of the Sand, but he only had eyes for her. I was so jealous of her." Her eyes darkened and she sighed. "Hiro did some stupid things for her; people were questioning whether he should be stripped of the kazekage title because sometimes he couldn't prioritize between her and the village. When they got married, some people demanded Lady Karura's head. Many of them were happy with the news of her death."

Kankuro felt his throat tighten. "Were you one of those happy people?"

"Me? Oh, no, of course not," Lady Motoko answered honestly. "I figured out that Lord Hiro would only ever love his Karura the day he announced he was marrying her 'even if it never rained again'."

Temari was glowing in joy. "That sounds like the daddy I remem— _Ugh_!" A contraction.

Lady Motoko looked at her in concern. "I think it's definitely time we move you somewhere more comfortable before it's too late. Lord Kankuro, can you help?"

Kankuro's throat felt dry, but he nodded. "To her room?" He kneeled next to his sister and put an arm around her back, sitting her up. Temari winced.

"Yes, put her on her bed," Lord Motoko ordered. "I'll go get some towels."

Kankuro put his other arm under his sister's knees and prepared to heave. "Tema, I'm picking you up now. Are you ready? Bear with me, okay?"

Her head lolled to a side and her face was pale as she tried coping with the strong new affliction the new position was giving her.

There was so much blood on the floor, on his sister, and on his hands. Kankuro felt like dropping her and going somewhere far away to puke, but with the way Gaara was behaving, if he didn't help Temari no else would. "Gaara, make way for me, please."

"Okay, and by the way, be careful." The redhead hurried to open Temari's bedroom door and pull the bed covers back. "That blood you're touching is coming out of her you-know-what."

Her you-know-wha…? "_Ugh, this is sick!_" Kankuro attempted to take his hand back and clean it, but Temari's groan motivated him to not do that, to remain cool and collected and help save her life. "This is so wrong," he complained on the verge of tears, taking a deep breath. "Oh wells, Tema, are you ready?"

In one swift move he stood up and she screamed. "_It hurts! It hurts! Put me down!_" she cried in horror.

"Suck it up, sweetie. We gotta do this." her brother carried her as fast and steady as he could move, eyeing the pale little redhead evilly. "You should've moved her sooner, idiot."

Gaara knew it, so he didn't say anything. He simply sat in a corner of the bed, and pulled Temari's hair back when her head finally hit the pillow. "Hang in there. You'll be alright."

She shook her head and bawled, unable to form coherent words anymore. She was so tired. It had started early in the day and it was already twilight. How much more time?

"Temari, you're an idiot," Kankuro sat on her other side and held her hand tightly. "There's nothing in the world that I could've done to make you suffer like this."

Lady Motoko entered the room with towels, which she put underneath Temari and over her legs to cover her as she cut the blonde's bloody baggy shorts and underwear away. More inspection and she announced it was almost time for the baby to be come forth.

In her mind, she worried about the blood loss, the dangerously increasing heart rate, and the baby's position, but from experience she'd learned that hope was a powerful medicine that created miracles and if given enough, she had faith that the young woman, and her child, would not perish.

She began telling her and the brothers all she knew about their mother. She'd been a sweet girl, really fun and gentle, and possibly the Sand's worst kunoichi ever. Although Temari's fan had belonged to her, Karura had specialized in being a seduction ninja, due to her being so pretty and so clueless that no one would suspect her of being a spy. The eldest of twins, she'd always been seen next to Yashamaru when they were little; they'd been so close their entire lives that when she died, in her fear and in order to not go alone she had taken half of Yashamaru with her by accident. Lady Motoko wasn't sure, but many people claimed that Lady Karura's mother wasn't a motherly woman, and she'd hurt Karura a lot throughout the years. She'd had a sad life for the most part, but the last few years of her life that she'd spent raising her kids had made up for it. Lady Motoko had not been close to Karura, so most of the information she wasn't sure of, but the siblings looked joyous to hear it, even the girl in her worst of pains, that she told them everything she knew.

All the while Temari pushed and winced, cried and moaned loudly. She could feel the baby coming, and it was indescribable. And when it was finally out!

"It's a boy!" Lady Motoko announced.

She took a deep breath, laughed as he heard the tiny creature cry, and passed out.

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><p><strong>AN The song is based off Inuyasha ^-^ (search rin's song lyrics on you tube if you want to hear the rhythm). Anyways, thanks for reading and review if you get a chance!**


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